You open the National Visa Center invoice, see $325, and think you've budgeted for a green card. You haven't. For a typical family-based case processed at a U.S. consulate abroad, the government fees for one person start at about $1,235: the $675 I-130 petition, the $325 immigrant visa application fee, and the $235 USCIS Immigrant Fee. A medical exam, vaccinations, translations, and travel to the interview come on top of that, and together they often add several hundred dollars per person.
The short version
A U.S. immigrant visa for one family-based applicant costs roughly $1,235 in core government fees when the Affidavit of Support is reviewed abroad, or about $1,355 if the $120 domestic review fee applies. The medical exam is a separate, locally priced charge. At the Kyiv panel clinic, for example, the base exam costs $243 to $420 depending on age, before vaccinations and tests. For a family, the per-applicant fees are multiplied by every person on the case.
What are the government fees for a U.S. immigrant visa?
The mandatory government charges are the petition fee, a per-applicant immigrant visa application fee that depends on the category, and the USCIS Immigrant Fee, which USCIS collects after the visa is issued. For family cases, the petition is the I-130 at $675. The application fee is $325 for family-based applicants, $345 for employment-based applicants, and $205 for certain special immigrants and returning residents.
Each fee is paid at a different stage and through a different system, so they are easy to track separately and hard to see as one total.
| Fee | Amount | Who pays | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative | $675 | U.S. petitioner, once per petition | Start of case |
| Immigrant visa application, family-based | $325 per applicant | Each applicant | At the National Visa Center stage |
| Immigrant visa application, employment-based | $345 per applicant | Each applicant | At the National Visa Center stage |
| Immigrant visa application, certain special immigrants and returning residents | $205 per applicant | Each applicant | At the National Visa Center stage |
| Diversity Visa registration | $1 | Each entrant | At registration |
| Diversity Visa application | $330 per selected applicant | Each selectee | After selection |
| Affidavit of Support review | $120 when reviewed domestically; generally none when reviewed abroad | Per case | At the National Visa Center stage |
| USCIS Immigrant Fee | $235 for most new permanent residents | Each new resident | After visa issuance, before travel |
These figures are the 2026 amounts published by the U.S. Department of State and USCIS. The State Department keeps its current schedule on its visa fees page, and you should check that page again before paying, because the amounts change.
The employment side works on the same pattern with different petitions. An EB-1C multinational manager, for example, pays the $345 application fee at the consular stage, but the employer's petition is filed with USCIS and has its own fee schedule, which is not covered in this table. Treat the employment figures in the table as a floor and add the employer's petition costs on top.
When does the $120 Affidavit of Support fee apply?
The $120 Affidavit of Support review fee applies only when the affidavit (Form I-864) is reviewed domestically, which in practice means by the National Visa Center. When a U.S. embassy or consulate abroad reviews the affidavit instead, the State Department generally charges nothing for that review. The fee changes a one-person subtotal from $1,235 to about $1,355.
Your consulate's processing model decides which of the two totals applies to you. You cannot choose it. When the National Visa Center invoices you in CEAC, the Consular Electronic Application Center, the invoice shows whether the review fee is due. Don't pay it in advance on the assumption that you will owe it.
The affidavit also causes costs the government never bills you for. A sponsor who doesn't meet the income requirement needs a joint sponsor, and gathering tax transcripts, employment letters, and bank statements for two households takes time and often requires notarization or translation.
Tip: Budget for the $120 review fee until your CEAC invoice shows you don't owe it. Money set aside and never spent is easier to deal with than a shortfall that holds up document submission.
How much does the immigrant visa medical exam cost?
There is no single U.S. price for the immigrant visa medical exam. Each embassy or consulate designates approved panel physicians, and those clinics set their own fees according to local costs, the applicant's age, and the tests the applicant needs. The Kyiv schedule is a good example: base fees run from $243 to $420 by age, and vaccinations, X-rays, and blood tests cost extra.
The Kyiv schedule, which the State Department dated September 25, 2026, sets these age brackets:
- Ages 0 to 1: $243
- Ages 2 to 14: $343
- Ages 15 to 17: $398
- Ages 18 to 24: $420
- Ages 25 to 44: $410
- Ages 45 and older: $398
The prices don't rise steadily with age. Young adults pay the most, and applicants 45 and older pay less than those aged 25 to 44, because each bracket requires a different set of screenings. The full schedule is in the post's published medical instructions.
The base fee is where the exam cost starts. Applicants who lack records of required vaccinations get the shots at the clinic, and each one is billed separately. A chest X-ray finding or an abnormal blood test can lead to a follow-up visit, and sometimes to weeks of further testing before the physician will clear the case. Your vaccination records are the one part of this you can control. Bring complete ones, translated where the post requires it, and you avoid paying the clinic for shots you already have.
The exam must be done by a physician approved by the post handling your case. An exam from your regular doctor, however thorough, does not count and has to be redone.
A worked example: one petitioner, three applicants
A U.S. citizen or permanent resident filing one petition for a spouse and two children in a preference category, where the children can be derivative beneficiaries, should expect about $2,355 in government fees before medical and other costs. Add Kyiv-rate exams for a 38-year-old spouse and children aged 16 and 10, and the total passes $3,500.
This example shows what I call the headcount multiplier. The $675 petition fee is paid once. The $325 application fee and the $235 USCIS Immigrant Fee are paid for every person immigrating, so each additional family member adds $560 before the clinic charges a thing.
| Line item | Calculation | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| I-130 petition | 1 x $675 | $675 |
| Immigrant visa application fees | 3 x $325 | $975 |
| USCIS Immigrant Fees | 3 x $235 | $705 |
| Government subtotal (affidavit reviewed abroad) | $2,355 | |
| Medical exam, spouse aged 38 | Kyiv base fee | $410 |
| Medical exam, child aged 16 | Kyiv base fee | $398 |
| Medical exam, child aged 10 | Kyiv base fee | $343 |
| Total before vaccinations, tests, documents, and travel | $3,506 | |
| With $120 domestic affidavit review | $3,626 |
The petitioner in the United States doesn't take the exam, so there are three medical lines and not four.
Petition structure changes this calculation. Immediate relatives of U.S. citizens can't be derivatives, so each spouse, child, or parent in that category needs a separate I-130, and each one costs $675. A citizen petitioning for a spouse and two stepchildren could pay the petition fee three times. Ask which category you're in before you set a budget, because a $675 difference per person is too large to discover partway through the case.
A family in this position should expect the final total to be well above $3,506. Vaccination catch-up for two school-age children, certified translations of three birth certificates and a marriage record, and a night in the capital for the interview can each add more than a hundred dollars.
Hidden expenses that don't appear on any government invoice
The costs families underestimate most are outside the government fee schedule: civil documents and certified translations, courier services, travel to the clinic and the interview, attorney fees, waiver applications, and the move itself. Travel has become more significant since November 1, 2025, when the State Department started scheduling applicants in their country of residence or, on request, their country of nationality.
Here is a checklist to budget against:
- Civil records: birth, marriage, divorce, and police certificates, often ordered from a registry in another city or country, with apostilles where required.
- Certified translations of every document not in English or the post's language, charged per page.
- Photographs that meet the specification, which applicants often retake after a rejection.
- Courier fees for passport return, where the post uses a courier service.
- Travel and lodging for the medical exam and the interview, often in two separate trips when the clinic and the consulate are in different places.
- Legal fees, which are optional, but many families with prior refusals, complex marriage histories, or joint sponsors pay for them.
- Waiver filings for applicants found inadmissible, which have their own fees and add months to the case.
- A public-charge bond, in selected cases.
- Relocation: flights, shipping, temporary housing, and the period between arriving in the United States and receiving the first paycheck.
The country-of-residence rule matters most for people who move often. If you have spent several years in Lisbon or Mexico City on a long-stay visa, your interview may now be scheduled there, which can be cheaper than flying home. If your residence status is thin or recent, you might have to request your country of nationality and pay for flights to get there. The State Department's announcement of the policy sets out the rules, and NomadReference's visa guidance covers how residence status affects them.
The public-charge bond is harder to budget for. In August 2026 the State Department announced a pilot program that may require a bond from selected immigrant visa applicants, with the amount set case by case rather than as a fixed fee. The pilot announcement is the only reliable source on who is affected. Anyone who can't prepare for a possible bond payment should know about the pilot before the interview date is set.
Warning: Government visa fees are generally non-refundable, including when a visa is refused or delayed. Pay each fee only when the invoice appears in CEAC or the USCIS portal, and not earlier "to save time."
How and when you pay, and fees that don't apply to immigrant visas
National Visa Center fees, meaning the immigrant visa application fee and any domestic Affidavit of Support review fee, are paid online through CEAC before you submit the DS-260. The $235 USCIS Immigrant Fee is paid separately, through USCIS's online portal, after the visa is issued and generally before you travel to the United States. The medical exam is paid directly to the panel clinic.
Payment order matters because each step depends on the one before it. The National Visa Center won't release the DS-260 until the application fee has been processed. If you skip the USCIS Immigrant Fee, you can still enter the United States on your immigrant visa, but USCIS won't produce your Permanent Resident Card until the fee is paid, and you may need that card for a job, a lease, or a bank account.
Several fees that show up in visa news don't apply to this process. The $250 Visa Integrity Fee, created by 2025 legislation, applies to nonimmigrant visas such as tourist, student, and work visas. It isn't on the immigrant visa schedule above. ESTA, the online authorization used under the Visa Waiver Program for short visits, isn't a route to permanent residence, and its fee has no bearing on a green card budget. Reciprocity fees work differently: they are based on nationality and apply to some visa issuances, so check the reciprocity schedule for your country.
On timing, the State Department's fees are the same whether a case takes eight months or eight years, but the other costs grow with a longer case. Employment-based and family preference cases depend on priority dates in the monthly Visa Bulletin, and some categories have long backlogs for certain countries. Each year of waiting can mean police certificates that expire and must be ordered again, medical exams that have to be repeated, and children who move into a more expensive exam bracket.
How many immigrant visas does the State Department issue?
The State Department issued 612,258 immigrant visas at foreign-service posts worldwide in fiscal year 2024, up from 562,976 in FY2023. That is an increase of 49,282 visas, or about 8.8%. Immediate relatives of U.S. citizens received the largest share, followed by family-sponsored preference applicants, with employment-based and diversity visas far behind.
The FY2024 breakdown in the State Department's annual Table I shows how heavily consular immigration depends on family ties. Immediate-relative visas totaled 265,467 and family preference visas 205,762, so family cases made up about three-quarters of all issuances. Employment preference visas came to 49,766 and diversity visas to 53,339, which means the Diversity Visa lottery produced slightly more immigrant visas at consulates than all employment categories combined.
For budgeting, the takeaway is that the $675 I-130 plus $325 application fee is the most common way to pay for an immigrant visa. Most readers of this article will have the same cost structure as the worked example above, adjusted for their own headcount and their consulate's clinic prices.
Bottom line
Set your budget from the full case total, not the $325 application fee. The State Department and USCIS fee schedules put the minimum clearly: "Most family-based applicants should expect at least $1,235 in core government charges for one person when applying through a U.S. consulate abroad, before medical exams, vaccinations, translations, travel and legal services." Multiply the per-person fees by the number of people on your case, find your post's panel clinic prices, and add at least a few hundred dollars per person for documents and travel. Then check each fee against the State Department and USCIS sites on the day you pay.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a U.S. immigrant visa cost for one person?
A one-person family-based immigrant visa costs about $1,235 in government fees when processed at a consulate abroad: $675 for the I-130, $325 for the visa application, and $235 for the USCIS Immigrant Fee. If the $120 domestic Affidavit of Support review applies, the total is about $1,355. The medical exam, vaccinations, translations, and travel are extra and can add several hundred dollars depending on your country and clinic.
Is the $325 visa fee the only cost?
No. The $325 fee covers only the family-based immigrant visa application and is one of several charges. You also pay the $675 I-130 petition fee, the $235 USCIS Immigrant Fee after issuance, and possibly a $120 Affidavit of Support review fee. The medical exam is paid separately to a panel physician, and document, translation, and travel costs are on top of all government fees.
Does the $250 Visa Integrity Fee apply to green card applicants?
No. The $250 Visa Integrity Fee, created by 2025 legislation, applies to nonimmigrant visas such as tourist, student, and temporary work visas. It is not on the immigrant visa fee schedule. Immigrant visa applicants pay the petition fee, the category-based application fee, the USCIS Immigrant Fee, and any applicable Affidavit of Support review fee.
Can I get a refund if my immigrant visa is refused?
Generally no. State Department visa application fees and USCIS fees are non-refundable, including when a case is refused, withdrawn, or delayed. For that reason, pay each fee only when it appears as due in CEAC or the USCIS online portal. Medical exam fees are set by private panel clinics, so any refund depends on the clinic's own policy.
Why does the medical exam cost differ so much between countries?
Each U.S. embassy or consulate designates its own panel physicians, and those clinics set prices based on local costs, applicant age, and required tests. The Kyiv schedule, for example, charges base fees from $243 for infants to $420 for applicants aged 18 to 24. Vaccinations, chest X-rays, and blood tests are billed separately, so two applicants at the same clinic can pay very different totals.
Do I have to pay the USCIS Immigrant Fee before traveling?
You should. USCIS asks new immigrants to pay the $235 Immigrant Fee online after the visa is issued and generally before travel. You can enter the United States without paying it, but USCIS won't produce your Permanent Resident Card until the fee is paid, which can hold up proof of status you need for employment, housing, and banking.
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