USA Visa Fee in India 2026: B1/B2, F1, H1B Costs Explained
Every dollar of the US visa process from India — MRV fees, SEVIS, the $250 integrity fee question, rupee conversion, payment modes and validity
The United States takes more visa applications in India than in almost any other country, and the fee question comes up before anything else: how much does a USA visa cost from India in 2026, and what exactly are you paying for? The short answer is $185 for a B1/B2 visitor, F1 student or J1 exchange visa, and $205 for petition-based work visas such as H1B and L1 — but students add a $350 SEVIS fee, workers trigger employer-side charges, and a $250 visa integrity fee signed into US law in 2025 may apply once implemented. This guide breaks down every visa type, converts the totals into rupees, explains how to pay by NEFT, IMPS or cash, and shows how to keep a fee receipt alive for its one-year validity. For the end-to-end process beyond money, read our US visa guide and the DS-160 form guide before you book anything.
One caution before the numbers: US visa fees are set in Washington, collected in rupees at a periodically reset consular exchange rate, and periodically amended by federal rulemaking — June 2026 even added a $750 expedited B1/B2 appointment pilot. Rupee figures below are therefore marked approximately wherever they depend on the exchange rate, and you should always confirm the live figure on your ustraveldocs.com payment slip and on current interview wait times, which decide whether your one-year fee validity is comfortable or tight.
How the US Visa Fee System Works in India
Every US nonimmigrant visa application starts with the same toll gate: the Machine Readable Visa (MRV) application fee. It is non-refundable, non-transferable, tied to one passport number, and valid for one year from payment. You pay it after completing the DS-160 form and before you can book the two appointments that follow — biometrics at a Visa Application Centre (VAC) and the consular interview at the Embassy in New Delhi or a Consulate in Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad or Kolkata.
The MRV fee has two tiers, reset by federal rulemaking in June 2023 and unchanged since: $185 for non-petition visas (B1/B2, F, M, J, C, D and others except E) and $205 for petition-based work visas (H, L, O, P, Q, R). Separate from the MRV, students pay the SEVIS I-901 fee, employers pay petition-side fees to USCIS, and since July 2025 a $250 visa integrity fee exists in statute for approved visas, pending implementation. Think of the MRV as the entry ticket and everything else as category-specific add-ons — the table below puts them side by side.
Two planning consequences follow. First, because interview wait times in India still stretch to many months at busy posts, pay the fee as soon as your DS-160 is ready so the one-year clock starts working for you, not against you. Second, because the fee dies with a refusal, never pay for a second application until you have fixed whatever caused the first refusal. Our visa fee calculator totals the MRV plus SEVIS and add-ons for your exact category before you commit.
USA Visa Fee Table 2026: Every Visa Type in USD and INR
The table below covers the categories Indian applicants use most. Rupee figures use recent consular rates and are approximately — your payment slip shows the binding figure on the day you pay.
| Visa category | MRV fee (USD) | Extra mandatory fees | Approx. total in INR |
|---|---|---|---|
| B1/B2 visitor | $185 | $250 integrity fee if implemented; optional $750 expedite pilot | ₹15,500–₹17,000 |
| F1 / M1 student | $185 | $350 SEVIS I-901 | ₹44,000–₹48,000 total |
| J1 exchange visitor | $185 | $220 SEVIS ($35 subsidised categories) | ₹33,000–₹37,000 total |
| H1B work | $205 | $500 fraud fee + $750/$1,500 employer training fee (employer-paid) | ₹17,500–₹19,000 (applicant share) |
| L1 intra-company | $205 | $500 fraud fee (employer-paid); blanket-L applicants similar | ₹17,500–₹19,000 (applicant share) |
| O / P / Q / R work | $205 | $500 fraud fee in most cases (petitioner-paid) | ₹17,500–₹19,000 (applicant share) |
| C1 transit / D crew | $185 | $250 integrity fee if implemented | ₹15,500–₹17,000 |
| E investor/trader | $315 | $250 integrity fee if implemented | ₹26,000–₹29,000 |
| K fiancé(e) | $265 | Medical + police add-ons vary by panel physician | ₹22,000–₹25,000+ |
Students and workers should read the category sections below before budgeting, because the “approx. total” column hides timing details — SEVIS must be paid before the interview, employer fees are invoiced through the petitioner, and the integrity fee, if live, is collected at issuance rather than at application.
B1/B2 Visitor Visa Fee + the $250 Integrity Fee Question
The B1/B2 is India's highest-volume US visa, and its arithmetic is simple: $185 MRV, no SEVIS, no petitioner, no reciprocity fee for Indian passports. What complicates 2026 is the visa integrity fee — a minimum $250 charge on every approved nonimmigrant visa, created by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed July 4, 2025. The statute says it is collected at issuance and is reimbursable if you obey all visa conditions and depart on time, but rollout needs cross-agency systems that did not exist when the law passed, and consular officials confirmed through late 2025 that they had no implementation guidance.
Practically, budget $185 certain plus $250 contingent — a possible $435 all-in per approved B1/B2. Do not pay the $250 to anyone until travel.state.gov or ustraveldocs.com shows it as a live collection step; fee scams thrive in exactly this kind of uncertainty. Also new in 2026: a pilot $750 expedited B1/B2 appointment fee (June 2026 temporary rule) buys an interview within ten business days at selected posts, subject to availability — optional, on top of the MRV, and worth checking only if your post participates and your travel cannot wait for the standard queue. Full process context is in our US visa guide.
F1, M1 and J1 Fees: MRV Plus SEVIS Explained
Student visas carry two compulsory payments. First the $185 MRV fee, identical to a tourist application. Then the SEVIS I-901 fee — $350 for F and M students, $220 for J exchange visitors ($35 for au pairs, camp counsellors and select subsidised J categories) — paid online to the Student and Exchange Visitor Program and confirmed with a printed receipt you carry to the interview. An F1 applicant therefore budgets $535 (approximately ₹44,000–₹48,000) before photographs, medicals or courier costs.
Order matters: get your I-20 (F/M) or DS-2019 (J) from the school first, because SEVIS payment needs the SEVIS ID printed on it; pay SEVIS at least a few days before the interview so the payment propagates; and keep both receipts stapled to your DS-160 confirmation in the interview folder. SEVIS fees, like MRV fees, are non-refundable — a denied F1 means paying both again on reapplication, which is why refused students should rebuild finances, ties and the study plan before touching the payment page a second time.
H1B, L1 and Other Work Visa Fees: Who Pays What
Work-visa fees split into two wallets. The applicant pays the $205 petition-based MRV fee (up from $190 in the June 2023 reset — older blogs still quote $190, so disregard them). The US employer or petitioner pays everything else to USCIS: the $500 fraud prevention and detection fee on initial H1B and L petitions, the ACWIA training fee of $750 or $1,500 depending on headcount, and — where speed matters — approximately $2,805 for premium processing of the petition itself.
Three warnings for Indian workers. First, any “agent” asking you to pay the fraud or training fee is running a scam — statute places those on the petitioner. Second, H1B registration, lottery selection and petition approval each have their own USCIS-side charges that your employer's counsel handles; confirm the 2026 schedule with them, because employment-based fees moved repeatedly in 2024–2026 under both the 2024 USCIS fee rule and H.R.1. Third, L1 blanket applicants and O/P/R performers follow the same $205 MRV pattern with petitioner-paid add-ons. Track the moving pieces with our visa fee calculator and the H1B process overview.
Dollar to Rupee: How the Consular Exchange Rate Works
The Embassy prices fees in dollars and collects them in rupees at a consular exchange rate that includes a small cushion and is reset periodically — not at the market rate you see on Google. That is why $185 has recently converted to approximately ₹15,500–₹17,000 and $205 to approximately ₹17,500–₹19,000, drifting even in months when Washington changes nothing. The binding figure is always the rupee amount printed on your ustraveldocs payment slip at the moment of generation.
Budgeting tips: generate the slip and pay promptly rather than screenshot-hunting old rupee figures; pay by IMPS/NEFT for an exact-to-the-rupee transfer instead of rounding cash; and if you are a student adding SEVIS ($350, paid in dollars online by card), remember the card network applies its own rate plus any forex markup — the SEVIS dollar charge and the MRV rupee charge will never reconcile to the same rate, and that is normal.
How to Pay: NEFT, IMPS and Cash Step by Step
Payment runs through the official US visa appointment service (ustraveldocs.com), never through an agent's account. The flow: complete the DS-160, create your ustraveldocs profile, choose the visa category, generate the payment slip, then pick one of three rails — NEFT (bank transfer using the virtual account details on the slip, activation usually within a few hours), IMPS (mobile/UPI-bank transfer to the same virtual account, often fastest), or cash over the counter at designated Axis Bank and Citibank branches (carry the printed slip plus ID; activation can take one to two working days).
Only after the receipt activates can you book the VAC biometrics slot and then the interview. Keep the receipt number: it is what links your payment to your passport profile, it is what you quote if activation stalls, and it is what expires one year later. If a branch claims the fee window is closed or quotes a different amount, stop and regenerate the slip online — payment channels and partner banks change, and the website's current instructions outrank any memory of how it worked last year.
Biometrics Centres, Interviews and “VFS Charges”
Search results often mention “VFS charges” for US visas, so let's settle it: the US mission in India does not use VFS Global, and there is no VFS surcharge. Your MRV fee covers both appointments — fingerprints and photograph at a Visa Application Centre (New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata) and the interview at the Embassy or Consulate. Arrive with the DS-160 confirmation, appointment letters and fee receipt; the VAC visit usually takes under half an hour.
What can cost extra: optional passport home delivery instead of free pickup, premium appointment conveniences where offered, photographs if yours fail specification, and — for K visas and some categories — panel-physician medicals and police clearances. None of these is a “service tax” on the visa itself. Anyone demanding a facilitation fee for “guaranteed slots” is misrepresenting a system where slot releases are free but competitive; check live wait times and book the moment slots fit your one-year validity window.
Fee Validity, Refunds, Refusals and Reapplication
The three rules that burn applicants most: the receipt is valid one year from payment, it is non-refundable for any reason (refusal, withdrawal, duplicate payment, change of plan), and it is non-transferable (no handing it to a sibling, no reusing it after switching from B1/B2 to F1). Miss the window or get refused, and the full fee is paid again. Duplicate or erroneous payments have a narrow correction process through the appointment service — act within days, with transaction proofs, not months later.
Refusal economics deserve emphasis because B1/B2 refusals under section 214(b) are common in India: each attempt costs another $185 plus another months-long wait for a slot. The fee does not buy approval; it buys adjudication. Spend the gap between attempts strengthening ties to India (stable job, property, family), documenting funds honestly, and clarifying the trip purpose — then pay fresh and reapply. Our US visa guide walks through refusal recovery, and the fee calculator shows the true cost of a two-attempt journey before you start it.
Frequently Asked Questions
How We Fact-Check This Page
Fee figures on this page were checked on October 1, 2026 against the State Department's Fees for Visa Services page (MRV tiers $185/$205), the ICE SEVIS I-901 schedule (F/M $350, J $220), the June 2026 Federal Register pilot rule ($750 B1/B2 expedite), and H.R.1 reporting on the $250 integrity fee, whose consular implementation timing remains unannounced. Rupee conversions use recent consular-rate history and are marked approximately — the ustraveldocs payment slip is authoritative on the day you pay. Read more about our standards on the about us page.