US to Offer Expedited Visa Interviews for $750 at Some Embassies

Foreigners seeking business and tourist visas to enter the United States will have a chance to get expedited service at select embassies by paying $750 on top of the $185 initial fee, the State Department announced June 8.

A notice about the new service for the expedited B1 and B2 visas and nonimmigrant visas was published in the federal register.

The temporary premium service is a pilot program and will be available from July 1 to Dec. 31, according to the State Department.

The $750 fee will pay to secure an expedited appointment at selected embassies within 10 days, the notice stated. The locations to offer the service will be posted on travel.state.gov and will be available in limited quantities.

The State Department might continue offering the service after evaluating the pilot program, according to the notice.

The visas are available for foreigners who need to attend a business meeting or consultations in the United States, or those negotiating contracts.

The former Biden administration’s State Department issued about 6.5 million B1-B2 tourism and business visas in 2024, a nearly 200 percent increase from the last year of Trump’s first term in 2020 when 2.2 million were issued, according to the department’s latest data.

H-1B Visas

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump’s effort to impose a $100,000 fee for H-1B visas was deemed illegal by a federal judge on June 8. The visas for specialty foreign workers were found to “impose a tax” without the requisite delegation by Congress, Judge Leo Sorokin of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts found.

Although the president can restrict foreigners from entering the United States, Congress has the power to tax, and federal law does not delegate the revenue, the judge found.

The administration plans to appeal the decision. The H-1B program has been abused for decades, the White House said in a statement to The Epoch Times.

About 65,000 regular H-1B visas are offered every year by the State Department, along with 20,000 more visas for workers with advanced degrees.

Massachusetts and 19 other states challenged the fee that Trump announced last September, saying they want to reduce taxes and allow more qualified people to enter the country.