HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO APPLY FOR A FIANCE VISA?
When you apply for Fiancé Visa (filed with USCIS), you must complete and submit the Form I-129F, which is also known as the Petition for Alien Fiancé(E) . Along with this form, you must submit a filing fee payment $535. This payment must be submitted by mail with your completed Form I-129F. Because these fees are subject to change, it is important to double-check with United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) before sending your payment and application.
Processing Costs and Fees Breakdown
| USCIS Filing fee – $535 | USCIS Filing fee for I-129F is $535. You may pay the fee with a money order, personal check, or cashier’s check. If you pay by check, you must make your check payable to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Please note that service centers are not able to process credit card payments. |
| K-1 Visa Embassy Fee – $265 | The USCIS Filing fee for I-129F is $535. You may pay the fee with a money order, personal check, or cashier’s check. If you pay by check, you must make your check payable to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Please note that service centers are not able to process credit card payments. |
Government Fee Exceptions
❌Not Avalable.
Miscellaneous Costs – Varies
🏥Medical examination
Your fiance(e) needs to pass the medical examination prior to the interview. An approved physician conducts the medical exam, and the costs vary (expect it to be $200 to $300 USD) from country to country. Check the cost of the medical examination with the approved physician before going for the checkup. Your K-2 Children may or may not need to have the medical exam before immigration. If they do, then you’ll pay for each.
💲Associated Costs
Locating, obtaining, and preparing supporting evidence: Along with the required fee you must submit supporting documents with your Form I-129F. These may include but are not limited to immigration, court, bank, and tax records. You are responsible for any payment required to obtain the original document(s) or copies of these documents.
You must provide these documents to USCIS in the original language along with the English translation when applicable. You are responsible for paying for any translation services, which generally cost a few hundred dollars.
🚕Travel Costs
You are responsible for paying for any train fare, bus fare, tolls, gasoline, airline tickets, or other transportation costs associated with the acquisition of the required supporting documents. After Visa approval, the biggest travel expense is the airline ticket to come to the US.
⚖️ More Money Matters
Attorney’s Fees: You can expect over $1999 flat legal fee + cost of filing petitions forms + embassy costs. If your application is fairly straightforward, with minimal complications, you can expect to pay less for legal services. However, difficulties in completing the application, acquiring the supporting documents, or verifying your eligibility to Petition for Alien Fiancé will likely result in additional costs for these services.
❓How can I reduce these costs?
The simplest — but riskiest — way to cut the costs associated with your Petition for Alien Fiancé is to do everything yourself. On one hand, this means that you won’t incur any attorney fees. On the other hand, without the help of a qualified immigration attorney, you have greater chances of making serious mistakes that could delay the review of your application, or even result in its rejection. Your only recourse, in either case, would be to file an appeal, and you may end up hiring an immigration lawyer to help you with that in the long run anyhow.
If you really don’t want to hire an immigration attorney, or you really don’t think you can afford it, there is another option. Here at Zontlaw, we provide a service that allows you to do most of the paperwork yourself, and have one of our experienced immigration attorneys review the material before you send it to USCIS. Once you have sent the application to us for our review, the attorney assigned to your case will go over it thoroughly to identify any mistakes. If any are found, the attorney will then alert you about the problem, and let you know how to correct it before sending the application to USCIS. By using this approach, which is known as legal coaching, you will have peace of mind knowing that your application has been reviewed by an experienced immigration attorney without incurring significant legal costs.
