The U.S. Department of Homeland Security plans to roughly double the fees, to as much as $200, that visiting international students must pay in order to upgrade a federal surveillance program that monitors those students’ activities.
The increased fees for international visitors applying for student, exchange-visitor, or similar nonimmigrant visas (in categories known as F, J, or M visas) were outlined in Monday’s Federal Register and are scheduled to take effect on October 1. The revenue will support a growing database on international visitors called the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, or Sevis.