Embassy of the United States Moscow, Russia

On September 9, 2012, the new visa regime between the Russian Federation and the United States of America entered into force. Please find the text of the visa agreement here. Please continue to check our website for additional information, and contact your nearest Russian Embassy or Consulate General about specific requirements for visa applications.

We accept U.S. dollars, rubles and credit cards (Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express) for payment of these fees. We regret that we cannot accept personal or cashiers' checks.

Change in Consular Fees

On June 28, 2010, the Department of State announced it will be increasing the fees for consular services to more accurately reflect the Department's cost of doing business as determined by a 2009 Cost of Service Study. These increases will go into effect on July 13. The changes include fees for passports, reports of birth, notarials, immigrant visas and a number of other services. For more information and to view the new fees, please visit the travel.state.gov website at http://www.travel.state.gov/passport/fees/fees_837.html

Why are you changing the fees at this time?

To ensure that the Department of State recovers the true costs of consular services through user fees, as required by law.  The proposed changes to our fee schedule reflect more accurately the true cost of doing business.   This way, services of direct benefit to individuals, organizations, or groups are paid for by the users rather than by taxpayers in general.

What will the increase in fees pay for?

The proposed changes in consular fees will cover actual operating expenses for the 301 consular posts abroad, 23 domestic passport agencies, and other centers that provide consular services to both U.S and foreign citizens.  As is the case with all U.S. government user charges, consular fees allow us to recover the costs of services from which a specific user – whether a U.S. or foreign citizen – derives a special benefit beyond those that accrue to the general public.  Services of direct benefit to individuals, organizations, or groups are paid for by the users rather than by taxpayers in general. 

Why have some fees increased more than others?

The Cost of Service Study completed in June 2009 is the most detailed and exhaustive study the Department of State has ever conducted.  It gives us a realistic assessment of our actual costs and allows us to differentiate between specific services within an activity category.  As a result, and because it is equitable, we are establishing tiered fees for some service categories (such as nonimmigrant visa application fees and immigrant visa processing fees).  We will charge more for those cases that require extensive processing and less for more straight-forward cases, better reflecting the cost of providing these services.

Have some fees decreased?

Yes.  The fee for determining returning resident status of a U.S. legal permanent resident has decreased from $400 to $380 because improvements in automated systems have made it easier to provide that service.  The hourly rate for consular time, which is applied to services that are not provided often enough to develop a reliable estimate of the average time involved (such as supervising telephone depositions), has been reduced based on the findings of the Cost of Service Study.  The application processing fees for two categories of immigrant visas are also lower than the previous flat fee (see items 32(a) and 32(c) of the proposed Schedule of Fees).

What will the increase in passport fees pay for?

Over the last 5 years, the demand for passports has increased to an average of approximately 15 million per year.  Historically, Passport Services counter agencies were located primarily on the two coasts and in the center of the U.S., which left the northern and southern borders relatively underserved.  In response to the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI), the Department has undertaken a systematic expansion of the network to provide better service to communities that have been particularly affected by the land border crossing requirements associated with that program.

The number of passport facilities has increased significantly since the last comprehensive Cost of Service Study.   Four new counter agencies are now serving communities along the southern and northern borders that have been particularly affected by the land border crossing requirements associated with the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative.   In FY 2004, the State Department had 13 passport agencies open to the public across the United States and two passport centers; by the end of FY 2011, we will have 23 passport agencies and five passport centers, two of which are dedicated to the printing of passport books and passport cards.  This expanded service and attendant cost increases have permitted us to provide more timely service to the traveling public and to maintain high standards for adjudication in accordance with U.S. citizenship laws and with appropriate attention to fraud risks.

It should also be noted that fees for passport books also cover the costs of certain emergency services provided to American citizens overseas.  These include assistance to Americans who have been victims of crime or who have been arrested abroad, assistance provided after the death of a U.S. citizen, and visits to U.S. citizens in overseas prisons.  These services also include organizing the evacuation of American citizens affected by war or natural disaster in a foreign country, such as victims of the recent earthquake in Haiti.  The estimated cost of providing such services to U.S. citizens in Fiscal Year 2009 was almost 300 million dollars.

Did the Department of State give this much thought?

The Department of State reviewed its current consular fees based on the Cost of Service Study completed in June 2009.  This study, involving two years of research, was the most detailed, comprehensive study of consular fees that the Department of State has completed. The previous update of the Schedule of Fees was in 2005.  At that time, the passport application fee was lowered.  Passport application fees were raised slightly in February 2008, based on the need to add passport processing capability ahead of the implementation of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, but those increases were based on estimates.  The cost of service study completed in June 2009 captures those costs more accurately.

Why did you lower the passport fee in 2005?

A cost of service study conducted at that time determined that the fee schedule had to be restructured to more accurately reflect the cost of doing business in 2005.  Costs in 2005 were lower due to an enormous increase in passport workload without a comparable increase in staff.  Since then, in order to maintain timely service and ensure the integrity of the issuance process, additional staff have been hired.   There have also been significant technological upgrades that enhance the security of the document itself.

What is the actual cost of processing passport applications?

The June 2009 study estimated that the actual cost of processing first-time passport applications for both adults and minors is $103.49, including border security costs covered by the passport book security surcharge.  Because a minor passport book has a validity of just five years, in contrast with the ten-year validity period of an adult passport book, the Department has decided to leave the minor passport book application fee at $40, and allocate the remainder of the cost of processing minor passport book applications to the adult passport book application fee.  The Department is raising the security surcharge for both adult and minor passports from $20 to $40 to cover the costs of increased border security, which include enhanced biometric features in the document.

Note:

• The total charge for a first-time passport book for an adult, including the application fee, security surcharge and execution fee, will increase from $100 to $135.
• The total charge for an adult passport book renewal, including the application fee and security surcharge, will increase from $75 to $110.
• The total charge for a minor passport book (age 16 and under), including the application fee, security surcharge and execution fee, will increase from $85 to $105.

Why is the Government charging me such a high fee to add passport pages, something previously provided for free?

The cost of service study found that adding visa pages to an existing passport book requires nearly the same resources as producing a new passport book. The study found that the cost of producing the pages, placing them in the book in a secure manner by trained personnel, and completing the required security checks costs the U.S. Government $82.48.  The Department will charge $82 for this service.  Please note that frequent travelers can request a 52-page passport book at no additional cost when they renew a passport, potentially saving them from the additional cost of visa pages.

Has the passport application execution/acceptance fee now increased?

No, the passport application execution/acceptance fee will remain the same, $25.

If the passport fees increased, why didn’t the passport application execution/acceptance fee increase?

The Department of State reviewed the cost factors for the execution of passport applications separately from the application fee.  In order to determine the appropriate execution fee, and since postal acceptance facilities comprise the majority of our acceptance facility network, Department officials consulted with the United States Postal Service.  We agreed to charge a $25 acceptance/execution fee that would appropriately recover costs and ensure that our acceptance facilities can continue to provide passport acceptance service to our customers.

Why was the File Search Fee increased?

The Department is raising the fee for file searches from $60 to $150 based on the cost of providing the service.  Applicants can avoid paying this fee by providing adequate citizenship documentation when applying for a passport rather than requesting an expensive, time-intensive file search.

How can I get more information about passport fees?

Information about passport fees, as well as how and where to apply for a U.S. passport book or card, can be found on the Department of State’s web site at travel.state.gov.

Did the fee also change for a Report of Birth Abroad of a Citizen of the United States?

Yes.  The fee will increase from $65 to $100, which is still less than the cost indicated by the cost of service study.  We opted not to raise it as high as actual cost so as not to discourage U.S. citizen parents seeking to document their children.  It is in the national interest that U.S. citizen parents document the citizenship of their children at birth and, because most parents also apply for a passport at the same time, a fee greater than $100 would be a disincentive.