The US Department of State has announced a new schedule of fees for Consular Services coming into effect on March 8.

Most notably, the new fees include a new ?security enhancement surcharge? of $12 which will be added to all passport applications received on, or after March 8. This surcharge was authorised by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2005, to support enhanced border security.

The Department is in the midst of a multi-year effort to increase border security by strengthening the security of the passport adjudication process and the physical passport itself.

These changes impose a variety of developmental and operating costs on the Bureau of Consular Affairs. The surcharge will be used to support the issuance of newly redesigned passports containing new security features. One of these is the addition of a biometric identifier.

A chip will be embedded in the cover and will contain the same information that appears on the data page, including the bearer?s picture as the biometric.

Other fee changes include additional security surcharge of $45 for Immigrant Visa applications, and an increase in the fees associated with processing Diversity Visa applications.

However, the application fee for the Non-immigrant Visa, or visitor?s visa, has not been changed at this time. It continues to cost $100 to apply for a visitor?s visa to the United States.