Visa Integrity Fee: What the New $250 Charge Means for Nonimmigrant Visa Applicants

One of the most sweeping consular fee reforms in recent memory arrived alongside one of 2025’s most debated pieces of legislation. Signed into law on July 4, 2025, as Public Law 119-21, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) introduced — among dozens of fiscal and immigration provisions — the Visa Integrity Fee: a minimum charge of $250 that now applies to virtually every nonimmigrant visa issued by U.S. consular posts abroad. This fee does not replace existing charges; it stacks on top of the Machine Readable Visa (MRV) fee, any applicable reciprocity fee, and petition fees. This guide breaks down what the law actually says, who is covered, how the so-called refund works, and where implementation still depends on rulemaking by DHS and the Department of State.

What Section 100007 of the OBBBA Says

Section 100007 of the enacted text authorizes the Secretary of Homeland Security to collect, in addition to any other existing fee, the Visa Integrity Fee at a minimum of $250 per nonimmigrant visa issued. The amount is subject to annual adjustment to reflect inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index, and all proceeds flow to the U.S. Treasury’s General Fund. The same legislation revamps the fee schedule for the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA), raising the authorized charge from $21 to up to $40.

This is a statutory fee: the legal basis is the law itself, not an administrative regulation. As a result, the amount cannot be reduced by DHS or DOS discretion, although the operational details — payment method, timing, refund mechanism — require subsequent rulemaking.

Who Pays the Visa Integrity Fee

The fee applies to the vast majority of nonimmigrant visa applicants processed at U.S. embassies and consulates. Categories directly affected include:

• B-1/B-2: business visitors and tourists;
• F-1 and M-1: academic and vocational students;
• J-1: exchange visitors;
• H-1B, H-2A, H-2B, and H-3: temporary workers;
• L-1A and L-1B: intracompany transferees;
• O-1 and O-2: individuals with extraordinary ability or achievement;
• P-1, P-2, and P-3: athletes, artists, and entertainment groups;
• E-1, E-2, and E-3: treaty traders, investors, and specialty occupation nationals;
• R-1: religious workers;
• TN: USMCA professionals;
• I: media representatives.

Citizens of Visa Waiver Program (VWP) countries traveling for up to 90 days under ESTA do not pay the Visa Integrity Fee, because they do not obtain a formal visa through a consular post. Those travelers do, however, face the higher ESTA fee. Immigrant visas (EB and family-based categories) and certain diplomatic and official categories (A, G, NATO) are also outside the scope of the new charge.

The “Refundable” Characterization and Its Practical Limits

The law classifies the charge as a refundable deposit, conditioned on the visa holder’s conduct throughout the visa’s validity. To recover the amount, the holder must satisfy three cumulative conditions:

• Depart the United States within the authorized period of admission as recorded on Form I-94, and in no event more than five days beyond the final authorized date.
• Refrain from unauthorized employment during the stay.
• Maintain continuous lawful status while in the United States.

In practice, the refund design runs into three significant obstacles:

1. Time horizon: a claim may only be filed after the visa expires. Since many nonimmigrant visas are issued with validity periods of up to 10 years (B-1/B-2 for many nationalities, for example), the refund could be locked up for an entire decade.
2. No mechanism yet: as of early 2026, DHS has not published a detailed claims procedure. Without a portal, form, or defined consular process, the refund remains theoretical.
3. Burden of proof on the traveler: applicants will be required to demonstrate timely departure and the absence of any violations. Authorities expect to rely on I-94 records, ESTA data, airline manifests, and CBP biometric databases, but system integration is still under discussion.

Impact on Families and Personal Budgets

For a family of four traveling on B-1/B-2 visas, the Visa Integrity Fee adds $1,000 on top of already existing MRV fees ($185 per applicant in 2026). The total out-of-pocket cost for a four-person household easily exceeds $1,700, not counting courier services, travel to the consulate, or any expedited processing.

F-1 students also feel the squeeze. The $350 SEVIS fee, $185 MRV fee, university tuition, and health insurance costs now share the budget with the new Visa Integrity Fee. For sponsored J-1 exchange programs, it remains unclear whether the sponsoring organization will absorb the charge or pass it on to the exchange visitor.

Implications for Employers and Sponsors

Companies sponsoring international talent must recalculate their mobility budgets. In a typical H-1B petition processed through a consulate outside the VWP, the employer already covers the I-129 filing fee ($780 for employers with 26 or more employees, $460 for smaller employers), the Fraud Prevention and Detection Fee ($500 on an initial petition), the Asylum Program Fee ($600), and, where applicable, the Public Law 114-113 surcharge ($4,000 for high H-1B/L-1 users). The Visa Integrity Fee adds $250 to the beneficiary’s consular process — and, under DOL rules governing H-1B, it cannot legally be passed on to the worker (all employer fees must be paid by the employer). For L-1, O-1, and TN visas, the allocation of the charge is less clear and will depend on guidance from the Wage and Hour Division.

Open Questions as of April 2026

Although the law is self-executing as to the minimum amount, several operational questions remain unresolved:

• Effective start date: the OBBBA provides that collection begins in the fiscal year following the publication of operational regulations. DHS has signaled adjustments throughout 2026.
• Payment method: whether the fee will be collected separately from the MRV or integrated into the existing consular payment platform.
• Exemption rules: humanitarian categories (T, U, affirmative asylum) and refugees are still awaiting formal agency guidance.
• Refund procedure: portal, form, processing timeline, and treatment of non-residents who no longer have a U.S. address on file.
• Consular renewal treatment: whether each new consular visa issuance triggers a new charge or whether continuity rules apply.

Anyone planning to apply for a U.S. visa in 2026 should budget for the full fee upfront and treat any potential refund as speculative. Consulting a licensed immigration professional is especially advisable for sponsoring employers and for families with multiple applicants, where the cumulative financial impact may warrant revisiting timelines and visa category choices.

Victoria Harper

Editor-in-Chief

Meet the author

Leading journalism and editorial content at Visto n’ Visa, Victoria helps make immigration topics clear, trustworthy, and easy to understand. Her focus is on delivering useful, human, and relevant content for people exploring new paths abroad.