The US visa integrity fee is a new charge of at least $250 that applies to every nonimmigrant visa issued at a US consulate abroad, created by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (Public Law 119-21). You pay it once your visa is approved, and you may be able to recover it later if you follow the terms of your visa. As of mid-2026, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State are still working out implementation, and consular posts have not yet started collecting it.
Who Has to Pay the Visa Integrity Fee
The fee applies across the full range of nonimmigrant visa categories. That includes work visas such as H-1B, L-1, and O-1, student and exchange visas such as F-1 and J-1, and visitor visas in the B-1/B-2 category. Dependents traveling on derivative nonimmigrant visas are charged too.
If you’re issued a nonimmigrant visa at a US consulate, plan on the $250 charge on top of whatever application and reciprocity fees your category already requires.
Who Is Exempt
Two groups do not owe the fee:
- Travelers entering the United States under the Visa Waiver Program, because they aren’t issued a consular visa in the first place.
- Immigrant visa applicants. The fee is limited to nonimmigrant visas.
When You Pay and What Happens If You’re Denied
The visa integrity fee is collected at the point of visa issuance, not at the time you file your application. If the consular officer denies your visa, you are not charged. That timing sets this fee apart from the application fees (like the MRV fee) you pay up front regardless of outcome.
Because collection happens at issuance, the fee is tied to the visa itself. Each issued visa carries its own $250 charge, so a family of four all receiving nonimmigrant visas would each be assessed the fee individually.
Can You Get the Visa Integrity Fee Refunded?
Yes, but only if you follow the rules. The statute allows reimbursement after your visa expires if you complied with all conditions of the visa and did not overstay by more than five days. In practice that means:
- You honored the terms of your visa category (for example, you worked only for your sponsoring employer on an H-1B, or you maintained full-time student status on an F-1).
- You departed the United States within five days of your authorized stay ending, or otherwise maintained lawful status through a timely extension or change of status.
Reimbursement isn’t automatic on approval, and it isn’t available while the visa is still active. It’s structured as a back-end refund for travelers whose full history with the visa shows compliance. The Departments of State and Homeland Security have not yet published the mechanics for requesting reimbursement.
Annual Inflation Adjustments
The $250 amount is a floor, not a fixed price. Under the law, the fee adjusts annually for inflation starting in the fiscal year after the statute took effect. The dollar figure you owe when the fee is actually collected may be higher than $250 depending on when your visa is issued.
Implementation Status
Although the visa integrity fee is on the books, it is not yet being collected. DHS and the State Department are still coordinating implementation as of mid-2026, which covers how consular posts will assess the charge, how it will appear on payment receipts, and how the reimbursement process will work. Until collection begins, applicants pay the existing consular fees for their category without the $250 add-on. Once implementation is announced, the fee will apply to visas issued from that date forward.
If you have a consular interview scheduled, check the current fee schedule at your specific post before you travel. Consular fees are published locally and any change in collection status will show up there first.
How the Visa Integrity Fee Differs from Other Immigration Fees
The word “integrity” appears in several immigration fees, and they are easy to confuse. The visa integrity fee is the traveler-facing $250 charge at the consulate. It is not the same as the EB-5 Integrity Fund fee, which regional centers in the immigrant investor program pay annually ($10,000 or $20,000 depending on investor count) to keep their designation.1U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. EB-5 Integrity Fund It is also not the $500 Fraud Prevention and Detection Fee that employers pay when filing an initial H-1B or L-1 petition on Form I-129.2U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. H and L Filing Fees for Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker
The distinction matters because those other fees fall on employers or program sponsors, not on the visa holder. The visa integrity fee is different: it is charged to the individual receiving the visa, at the consulate, at issuance.
The Rest of Public Law 119-21
The same statute that created the visa integrity fee also introduced several other immigration charges that are not tied to consular visa issuance. These include a $100 asylum application fee, a $100 annual asylum fee for pending cases, a $550 fee for initial employment authorization on asylum, parole, or TPS grounds, a $275 renewal fee for the same, TPS registration fees up to $500, and a $250 fee for Special Immigrant Juvenile petitions.3Federal Register. USCIS Immigration Fees Required by HR-1 Reconciliation Bill Like the visa integrity fee, these adjust annually for inflation based on the July Consumer Price Index, and none of them are waivable.4U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. G-1055, Fee Schedule
If you’re applying for a nonimmigrant visa at a consulate, the fee that will affect you personally is the $250 visa integrity fee. The others reach different applicants filing different forms inside the United States.
What to Do Before Your Interview
Confirm three things with your consular post before you travel for a visa interview:
- Whether the visa integrity fee has begun collection at that post.
- The current dollar amount, which may already have adjusted above $250 for inflation.
- The accepted payment method at issuance, since the collection mechanism is being set up alongside the fee itself.
Keep every receipt tied to your visa issuance. If you later become eligible to request reimbursement based on compliant use of the visa, proof of the original payment will be the starting point of that claim.