United States Visa Cost Calculator

Most leisure travellers need only the United States's single-entry tourist visa — the $185 baseline everything else is measured against. At $278, the multi-entry option suits anyone whose United States trip is really two trips — one border hop in the middle changes the math fast. Business visas cost 2.5× base ($463) because they clear a different review path: expect to attach an invitation letter from your United States host company.

A $56 transit endorsement legalises a short United States layover — typically 24–72 hours — without a full application behind it. Since most applicants for the United States apply through a consulate or the official portal, add courier and notary costs on top of the $185 fee when budgeting.

Paperwork comes before payment: passport with 6+ months' validity, a recent photo, United States accommodation confirmations, and bank statements. Applications for the United States go in through a single designated channel per traveller; the consulate returns mixed-channel files unprocessed. Payment timing varies by channel: online by card for the United States eVisa/ETA, or at application time by card or money order where a consulate handles the file.

Expect silence rather than updates: United States rarely confirms receipt mid-review, so screenshot every submission page as you go. File 4–6 weeks out for the United States; express handling rescues late plans at +50%, which the calculator above prices for your group size.

The passport rules are absolute — 6 months' validity beyond your United States exit date and two clean pages for the visa itself. The United States's photo rule is the standard white-background print; bring a spare, because the application keeps the one you hand over. Show roughly $50–100 USD per day of stay in bank statements — for a 10-day United States trip that means $500–1,000 visible and recent.

Round the file out with your flight itinerary and United States lodging confirmations that match your dates exactly — mismatches draw queries. An invitation letter from a registered United States company is the business-visa keystone; transit files live or die on the onward booking.

The standard United States decision typically lands within 5–15 business days, and seasonal backlogs push it to the top of that band. Express handling compresses the wait to 1–3 business days and multiplies the fee by 1.5 — $278 instead of $185 for a tourist visa to the United States. Most United States refusals trace to fixable defects: an expiring passport, thin bank statements, or accommodation that stops a night short of the return flight.

A refusal is not terminal: fix the named defect and reapply — United States does not penalise a corrected second application. Build a one-week buffer into any United States timeline: a document request at day twelve of a fifteen-day queue is a missed flight otherwise.