The State Department has congressional authorization to fund the Department’s Border Security Program with user fees. These fees are adjusted periodically to reflect the actual cost of the program. Added security screening procedures, restrictions on the role of support staff, and further increases in management oversight have added to the cost of nonimmigrant visa processing. The Machine-Readable Visa (MRV) fee was introduced in 1994 and is the program’s primary source of revenue.

The Department is facing a critical revenue shortfall because the current $65 fee simply does not recover the full cost of service. In consultation with the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, the Department determined that the shortfall should be met by an increase in the fee rather than by an appropriation of U.S. tax revenues. Because of lowered applicant volume and the budget required to administer the Border Security Program, a fee of $100 is necessary to recover costs.