New Us Visa Fee At $250: Where Is The World's Welcome?

State Department may require visa applicants to post bond to enter the US

The State Department is proposing requiring applicants for business and tourist visas to post a bond of up to $15,000 to apply to enter the United States.

• A new bill will increase non-immigrant visa application fees by $250.
• While the added fee may be refundable, the upfront cost poses a significant barrier for many potential visitors.

Starting with the new fiscal year on Oct. 1, traveling to the United States will become much more expensive for millions of people. And while that should be central to conversations about tourism, it has barely been mentioned.

Congress recently passed legislation known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which adds a $250 fee for non-immigrant visa applications. That cost is on top of the current $185 fee for a tourist visa (B1/B2), raising the total to about $435 per person, depending on the country — a more than 135% increase. The hike does not apply to travelers from countries in the ESTA program, who do not need visas to visit the U.S.

The State Department has said the fee could take effect sometime in 2026, though legally it could begin as soon as the new fiscal year.

If enacted, it would make the U.S. visa among the most expensive in the world.

Officials have suggested the new fee may be refundable, but there is no clear timeline or mechanism for how that would work. What is certain is that the upfront cost of securing a visa to visit the United States will rise sharply.

And for what? What does the country gain by making it harder for tourists, students and temporary workers to come? What message does it send to the world to demand such a high cost simply to visit, study, spend or invest in the United States?

For a family of five dreaming of a first trip to Disney World in Florida, New York City or the Grand Canyon in Arizona, the new fee could mean more than $2,000 just for visas. Many may choose to vacation elsewhere. Who loses in that scenario? The answer is simple: the United States.

The cost increase doesn’t just affect leisure travel. It could also have an impact on international events such as the 2026 FIFA World Cup and the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. Fans — and even athletes — from lower-income countries could face new financial barriers to attending, undermining inclusion and global representation at those events.

That’s only the beginning. The global visa system can operate on reciprocity: if one country raises fees, others are likely to follow. Without careful diplomacy, U.S. travelers could soon find their own mobility restricted.

The European Union has already announced that its ETIAS travel authorization, which allows U.S. citizens and other non-EU nationals to enter without a visa, will increase from about $7 to more than $20 in 2026. Other countries could adopt similar measures, making it more expensive for Americans to travel abroad.

In 2023, international visitors spent more than $212 billion in the United States, according to the Commerce Department’s National Travel and Tourism Office. The Bureau of Economic Analysis reported that tourism accounted for 3.03% of U.S. GDP that year.

Meanwhile, other nations are moving in the opposite direction. China, for example, welcomed 94.6 million international tourists in the first three quarters of 2024, up nearly 79% from the year before, according to its Ministry of Culture and Tourism. By year’s end, China had received 132 million visitors, generating about $94.2 billion in revenue.

Travel doesn’t just fuel economies. Travel builds bridges. By 2026, it may simply be too expensive for millions of people to build them in the United States.

Wilson "Wil" Santiago Burgos is the founder of Mochileando.com, one of the largest travel platforms in Puerto Rico and the Latin American market in the U.S.