Millions of foreign visitors to the United States will likely have to pay a new $250 visa fee introduced by President Donald Trump’s newly established “big, beautiful bill.”
Starting Oct. 1, the $250 “visa integrity fee,” tacked on to the visa’s $185 existing cost, will apply to any foreign national seeking to enter the U.S. on a nonimmigrant visa. This classification applies to tourists, people traveling for business, students, and more, and allows them to stay in the U.S. for up to six months. Roughly 11 million visitors to the U.S. were issued nonimmigrant visas in 2024, according to the New York Times.
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Visitors coming to the U.S. under the visa-waiver program, which allows them to stay for 90 days or less, will not be required to pay the fee. Most visitors from Canada, Europe, Australia, Israel, and Japan are included in the waiver program.
It’s possible visitors could be refunded the integrity fee once they return home, as long as they followed the rules and restrictions of their visa. However, it’s unclear how refunds would be given.
The goal of the new fee is to deter visa overstays, according to the Department of Homeland Security. The fee will provide a financial incentive for visitors to abide by the rules of their visas and not remain in the U.S. past their visa expiration date.
However, many critics have voiced opposition to the new fee. Geoff Freeman, president and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association, told Forbes that it’s essentially a “self-imposed tariff” on international travelers that could discourage tourists from traveling to the U.S.
There are also concerns about how this will affect the 2026 World Cup, which the U.S. is hosting with Canada and Mexico. The last World Cup in 2022 saw more than a million international attendees, according to statistics from FIFA.
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The integrity fee isn’t the only change tourists will face, as there will also be an increase for the I-94 form fee. Used to document a traveler’s departure and arrival, the form will have a fee increase from $6 to $24. The fee for the Electronic Visa Update System, which applies to certain nonimmigrants from China, will also increase from $8 to at least $30.
Not even visitors under the visa-waiver program will escape rate hikes, as their fee for the Electronic System for Travel Authorization will increase from $21 to $40.