President Trump signed a bill, informally called the One Big Beautiful Bill(OBBB), on July 4th, 2025, that adds a new US Visa Integrity fee for all non-immigrant visas issued by the US Department of State.
In this article, we will review all the details related to the same, including the background of the same on why it was introduced, what all visa types it applies to, when it is likely to start, what the actual fee cost is, what the conditions are to get a refund of the same, including its impact, the official bill text, and common FAQs on the same.
Background: Why the US Visa Integrity Fee?
As per the US Department of Homeland Security(DHS), hundreds of thousands of non-immigrant visa holders overstay in the US. In FY 2023 alone, they estimated around 565,155 foreign citizens overstayed in the US. In FY 2022, this number is even worse, if you look at a 6-month window, where they estimate it to be at 618,475.
The tables below show the actual data for FY 2023 and FY 2022 that DHS submitted to the US Congress as part of their annual entry, exit, and overstay reports.
As per the US Department of Homeland Security, the US Visa integrity fee is meant to reduce the overstays by foreign citizens in the US, who enter on a visa. Also, it is the broader push by the Trump administration to tighten the overall immigration system.
The US Visa Integrity fee was tucked into the huge 330-page H.R.1 – One Big Beautiful Bill Act that President Trump signed on July 4th, 2025. It also had many other fee hikes done to various forms that USCIS processes.
Now that you know the background, let’s look at more details of the US Visa integrity fee.
US Visa Integrity Fee: How much? Total Cost?
As per the H.R.1 – One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) Act, which President Trump signed, the US Visa Integrity Fee is set to be $250 (US Dollars) for the fiscal year(FY) 2025. The DHS/USCIS fiscal year 2025 started on October 1st, 2024, and ends on September 30, 2025. So, the US Visa Integrity Fee is set to be $250 until September 30th, 2025. After that, it will increase.
This new visa integrity fee will be in addition to the current US Visa fee, aka MRV fee, that applicants pay during the visa appointment, after the visa issuance. Below are a couple of examples of how the overall fee would look for some visas:
- If you are applying for an H1B or L1 visa, you would pay $205 for the visa appointment/ visa services. Now, with the new visa integrity fee, if your visa is approved, you will need to pay $250 on top of the current $205. So, the total cost to you as an H1B or L1 applicant would be $455 for the US visa.
- If you are applying for a B1/B2 Tourist Visa for you or your parents, the visa appointment/ visa service fee is $185. Adding the new visa integrity fee, if your visa is approved, it will come to $435. ($185+$250)
Who does the US Visa integrity fee apply to? H1B, B1/B2, F1?
This new visa integrity fee will be applicable only to all non-immigrant applicants who received their US visa approval at a US Consulate or US Embassy. It will not apply to anyone whose US visa was refused or denied. Below are some of the common non-immigrant visas that the new fee would apply to:
- Work Visas: H1B, L1, O1, E, P, Other work visas
- Dependent Visas: H4, L2, O2, F2, Other dependent visas
- Student, Exchange Visitors: F1, J1, M1 visas
- Business/ Visitor Visas: B1, B2, B1/B2 visas
- All other non-immigrant visas that are not listed above.
No Fee Waiver: There is no fee waiver for the new US Visa Integrity fee. Everyone who applies for a non-immigrant visa must pay this fee after their visa is approved.
How will the US Visa Integrity Fee Cost Increase?
As per the OBBB Act, the visa integrity fee will be annually adjusted for inflation for FY 2026 and each of the subsequent years. The cost increase adjustment will be as per the formula below:
New Visa Integrity Fee = (Previous Year’s Visa Integrity Fee) + (Previous Year’s Visa Integrity Fee × % Change in Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) for July)
Below is how the Visa Integrity fee will increase for the FY 2026:
You need the following data points to get the Consumer Price Index (CPI) change:
- Consumer Price Index for Urban Consumers (CPI-U) for July 2024 = 313.6
- Consumer Price Index for Urban Consumers (CPI-U) for July 2025 = 321.5 (taking June 2025 data as we are yet to get the July data for FY 2025)
New Visa Integrity Fee for FY 2026 = 250 + 250*((321.5-313.6)/313.6)) = 250 + 6.3 = $256.3
If we round it up, the new Visa Integrity Fee for FY 2026 would be approximately $256.
We will update the above calculation once the CPI numbers are released for July 2025.
What are the conditions to get the US Visa Integrity fee reimbursed?
The bill also has a provision to reimburse the US Visa Integrity fee for applicants who abide by the visa rules related to the stay and adhere to the conditions outlined in the bill. The text says “may provide a reimbursement…”, so it is subject to their discretion.
The Visa integrity fee will only be reimbursed after the expiration of the non-immigrant visa. For example, if you have a B1/B2 visa that is issued for 10 years, you may only get the reimbursement of the fee after 10 years.
Below are the conditions that non-immigrant visa holders must adhere to to get the visa integrity fee reimbursed:
- The non-immigrant visa holder follows all the conditions related to the non-immigrant visa they were issued when they are in the US and does not accept any unauthorized employment
- The non-immigrant visa holder has not requested an extension of their period of admission (I-94 Date) and left the US not more than 5 days after the last day of their valid stay (basically the I-94 expiration date).
- If the applicant was granted an extension of the status (like an H1B extension) or they applied for adjustment of status and got the green card or became a permanent resident.
Official Text of the Visa Integrity Fee from the US Congress Bill
The language of the official text for the visa integrity fee in the OBBB is pretty easy to understand for anyone and not very technical.
Below is the screenshot of the actual text of H.R.1 – One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) Act corresponding to the Visa Integrity Fee. It is on Page 299 of the PDF file of the Bill.
US Visa Integrity Fee Starting Date
President Trump signed the OBBB on July 4th, 2025. After the president signs a bill and it becomes a law, the respective agency will take up the provisions listed in the law and implement them as regulations.
As part of the implementation, DHS will need to go through the steps of the Federal Rulemaking process for the same. They will publish a regulation in the Federal Register before it goes into effect.
As of today, there is no regulation issued by the DHS regarding the implementation of the Visa Integrity Fee at the Federal Register. Hence, there is no date yet.
There is no direct guidance given by DHS yet on when the Visa Integrity Fee collection will be implemented. We will keep you posted on the blog. Stay tuned.
Impact of the US Visa Integrity Fee: US Govt. vs. Traveller
During FY 2024, the total number of non-immigrant visas that were issued across all the US Consulates and Embassies stood at 10,969,936 ( almost 11 million). See the screenshot below of the official non-immigrant visa statistics data from travel.state.gov from FY 2020 to FY 2024.
If we do the math, it comes to: 10,969,936*250 = 2,742,484,000 = 2.78 Billion US Dollars.
This new US Visa integrity fee would bring in at least 2.78 Billion Dollars every year. While they say it will be reimbursed, we need to wait and see how practical it will be for most of the travelers to remember and apply for the refund after 10 years. People may forget, or we don’t know how easy or difficult it would be to get the refund.
If you are an international student or work visa holder, you may or may not feel the pinch of the fee directly as you would be investing much more and live in the US after you get the US. But, for travelers mainly focused on tourism, it makes it more difficult to plan a U.S. trip.
For example, if you are an Indian family of four with two adults and two kids, planning to visit the US for vacation, this new US Visa integrity fee would really add $1000 to the overall budget. With the US visa slots long waiting times, and the high costs, it may discourage many of the foreign tourists planning to visit the US.
Let’s look at some common FAQs now
Common FAQs
We do not know at this point. DHS has not yet published the regulation on the same. Once they publish, we will know the exact start date.
As per the CPI calculations based on inflation, the Visa integrity fee would likely be around $256 starting from FY 2026.
Yes, it applies to all non-immigrant visa applicants globally, including those in India.
As of now, we do not have any details yet on the same. We will know once DHS publishes the regulation on how they will implement the same.
The main conditions to get the US Visa Integrity fee refund are to comply with all the visa-related conditions, like not doing unauthorized employment, not overstaying, and leaving within 5 days after the expiration of the I-94. Also, if you continue to stay on H1B or L1, you should have your status extended before the expiration of your I-94 or apply for an adjustment of status and get a green card.
It will be collected by the Department of Homeland Security(DHS). The US Visa appointment and service fee is collected by the US Department of State. So, it will be an interagency effort and we are yet to see how it will all work.
What do you think of the Visa Integrity Fee? Will it stop people from applying for a U.S. visa? Share your thoughts and questions in commetns section below:
