In our previous bulletin, we had informed readers about the changes in the visa application fees for immigrant and non-immigrant visas. Subsequent to this, with effect from Monday, April 23, 2012, the U.S. Consular Exchange rate has been adjusted as INR 54 to one USD.

This revision in the exchange rate will affect the INR equivalent for all the non-immigrant, immigrant visa and US citizenship services application fees paid on or after, April 13, 2012. Effectively, the new non-immigrant visa application fee is and INR 8,640 (equivalent to USD $160 for non-petition based visa categories) and INR 10,260 (equivalent to USD $190 for petition based visa categories).

Applicants who paid the fees prior to April 23, 2012 can use the HDFC receipts as long as one year has not elapsed since purchase of the receipts. However, applicants who have paid their visa application fees prior to the revision on April 13, 2012 of the non-immigrant visa fees will have to pay the difference the revised fees, if their interview scheduled on or after July 13, 2012.

These updates can be found on the US Embassy website and the VFS website.