Visa Information

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has introduced a SEVIS (Student and Exchange Visitor System) I-901 fee for all applicants applying for F, J and M visas with initial 1-20 or DS-2019 forms issued on or after September 1, 2004.

Who must pay a fee
All principal applicants for F, J and M visas must pay the new SEVIS I-901 fee. An exemption is granted for those participants of U.S. Government sponsored programs. These are identified by a program number prefix beginning with "G-1," "G-2" or "G-3". Dependents (spouse, unmarried children under 21) of the applicant applying for F-2, J-2 or M-2 visas are not required to pay the fee. A student or exchange visitor applying to renew his/her visa to continue the same program is generally not required to pay the fee.

Fee Amount
The fee amount is $100 for full time programs and $35 for the following short-term exchange programs: au pairs, summer work/travel and camp counselors.

Fee Payment
Some exchange visitor program organizations pay the fees for their participants directly, so please check with your program before paying the fee individually.

Students and exchange visitors cannot pay the fee directly at the Consulate, Applicants must use Form I- 901, the SEVIS Fee Application, available at www.ice.gov/sevis to pay the SEVIS fee. You may have also received a Form I-901 from your school or exchange program. Once you have filled out the Form I-901 (either online or on paper), you may pay the fee online by credit card (VISA, Mastercard or American Express) or by mail with a U.S. dollar check or international money order. Instructions for both methods of payment are available via the Internet site www.fmjfee.com.

Fee Verification
Under SEVIS regulations, the Consulate must receive verification of payment of the SEVIS fee, either directly from the SEVIS system or by presentation of a receipt of payment by the applicant, before your visa application can be processed. Applicants receive a paper receipt for SEVIS fee .payment, either printed from the website through which the fee was paid or sent by mail on a Form I-797 from DHS.

If you are required to pay the SEVIS fee and do not pay it, your visa application will be denied until proof of payment is received. Once the Consulate has received verification that the SEVIS fee has been paid, we can continue processing your visa application.