The United States has changed the student visa fees for all international students. According to the US Department of State, the student visa fees will now be raised by $25 starting from May 30, 2023. The announcement was made by the US government on its official website – state.gov. The official notice states that the students' fees are set to be raised from the current fee of USD 160 to USD 185, and this will take effect on May 30, 2023.
"The Department of State has published a final rule regarding the increases to certain non-immigrant visa application (NIV) processing charges and the Border Crossing Card (BCC) for Mexican citizens who are 15 years of age or older. The charges for visitor visas for business or tourism (B1/B2s and BCCs) and other non-petition-based NIVs, such as student and exchange visitor visas, will be raised from USD 160 to USD 180," the notice read.
With the change in visa fees, Indian students would have to pay over Rs 14,000 as the student visa fee if they get admission to any of the US-based universities, based on the current exchange value. According to the Open Doors Report 2022, the number of Indian students has more than doubled, with the country's share in the total number of international students rising from 11.8% to 21%. For the two successive years between 2018-19 and 2019-20, as well as 2019-20 and 2020-22, the number of Indian students' enrolments in US universities has fallen by 4.4% and 13.2%, respectively.
