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STATE DEPARTMENT ANNOUNCES NEW FEE FOR AFFIDAVIT OF SUPPORT PROCESSING
Effective October 1, 2000, there will be a $50 fee for processing affidavits of support at the National Visa Center and at consulates abroad.  The fee will be levied on each affidavit submitted by a different person, meaning that if there are co-sponsors each submitting an affidavit, a fee will be required for each.  However, in cases where the affidavits are essentially the same but the situation calls for separate applications, as in the case of an application for parents by a child, only one fee will be collected.

A large part of the reason for the institution of the fee is a shift in the processing of affidavits of support.  To cut down on the need for multiple interviews at the consulate because of problems with the affidavit, the National Visa Center instituted a pilot program beginning in December 1998 in which affidavits for cases pending at the consulates in Ciudad Juarez, Manila and Santo Domingo are examined at the NVC before being forwarded to the consulate. 

This program has recently been expanded to include seven more consulates – Bogota, Freetown, Georgetown, Guangzhou, Montreal, Port au Prince and Tirana.  Combined, these ten consulates have about 40 percent of the worldwide immigrant visa cases.  The State Department is also in the process of developing a call center to answer questions on completing the affidavit of support.

The new affidavit of support fee does not apply to adjustment of status cases filed with the INS. 
 
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