New Visa Application Guidelines
On September 6, 2025 the US Department of State posted a notice indicating that, effective immediately, applicants for visas were to follow new guidance:
- Applicants for U.S. nonimmigrant visas (NIV) should schedule their visa interview appointments at the U.S. Embassy or Consulate in their country of nationality or residence.
- Nationals of countries where the U.S. government is not conducting routine nonimmigrant visa operations must apply at the designated embassy or consulate, unless their residence is elsewhere.
- Residence Requirement: Applicants must be able to demonstrate residence in the country where they are applying, if the place of application is based on their residency.
- Fees: Applicants who schedule nonimmigrant interviews at a U.S. embassy or consulate outside of their country of nationality or residence might find that it will be more difficult to qualify for the visa. Fees paid for such applications will not be refunded and cannot be transferred.
- Appointment Availability: Wait times for nonimmigrant interview appointments vary by location. Applicants applying outside their country of nationality or residence should expect to wait significantly longer for an appointment.
- Existing Appointments: Existing nonimmigrant visa appointments will generally not be cancelled.
- Rare exceptions may be made for humanitarian or medical emergencies or foreign policy reasons.
New Visa Fees
H.R.1; the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" signed into law on July 4, 2025, imposes several new immigration fees to be paid in addition to any other fees otherwise required by law. These fees are effective immediately, but, at this time, the mechanism to collect the fees is not yet in place. We will continue to monitor this situation and update this article when the fee collection has been implemented.
*Please note that none of these fees are paid to UC Berkeley. The below fees are paid to The US State Department as part of the visa application and acquisition process or USCIS.
Budget Law Imposes New Immigration Fees - Several fees have been implemented. This article reviews all of them.
Fees that impact International Students:
Budget Law Imposes Nonimmigrant "Visa Integrity Fee" - A new fee of $250+ is expected to be charged at the time of visa issuance. At this time, the mechanism to collect the fee is not in place, but is expected to be implemented asap.
Budget Law Imposes New "I-94 Fee" - A new fee of $24 will be charged for application for an I-94 Arrival record - At this time, we do not have clear information on which students this will impact. We will continue to update this resource as we receive more guidance.
Changes to Visa Reciprocity Agreements
The US State Department updated the Visa Reciprocity tables. This has impacted changes in the length of validity of non-immigrant visas issued to citizens of particular countries.
The following countries will now be restricted to 3-month, single-entry visas:
Angola, Benin, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cote D'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, The Gambia, Ghana, Kyrgyzstan, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, Sao Tome and Principe, South Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Tonga, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Please note that if you are from one of these countries and have a previously issued visa, there will be no update to the validity of that visa.
F-1 and J-1 students are admitted to the US for the Duration of Status (D/S), meaning that as long as the student is in the US and maintaining valid F or J status, they can remain in the US even if their visa is expired. However, if a student's visa is expired or if they have exceeded the allowable number of entries to the US and they travel abroad, they will need to apply for a new visa before re-entering the US.
Temporary Pause on Scheduling New Visa Appointments
*UPDATE* Per a US State Department Press Release on June 18, 2025, overseas posts will resume scheduling F, M, and J nonimmigrant visa applications soon. Applicants should check the relevant embassy or consulate website for appointment availability.
To facilitate this vetting, all applicants for F, M, and J nonimmigrant visas will be instructed to adjust the privacy settings on all of their social media profiles to “public.”
*UPDATE* As of June 9, 2025, we are receiving reports of students who have been able to schedule new visa appointments at multiple consulates. While this update is not true for all consulates and no official announcement has been made, we do encourage students who do not yet have a visa appointment for a summer or fall program to try to make an appointment.
As of, May 27th, 2025, several news outlets are reporting that the U.S. State Department will be temporarily pausing visa interview scheduling for student visas in order to clarify processes around vetting applicants' social media accounts. We continue to advise caution around travel for current students and encourage future students who are at risk of not acquiring a visa in time for their program to contact ISS.
Travel Restrictions
On June 4th, 2025 the President of the United States issued an executive order titled, Restricting the Entry of Foreign Nationals to Protect the United States from Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats. The executive order calls for restrictions on the entry to the US of foreign nationals from the following countries:
Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, Venezuela, Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen.
Effective date: 12am EDT on June 9, 2025
We encourage students to reach out to visiting-intl@berkeley.edu if you believe that you will be affected by this executive order.
Registration Requirements
On March 12th, Department of Homeland Security published an Interim Final Rule which becomes effective on April 11, 2025 that amends DHS regulations to designate a new USCIS alien registration process for certain nonimmigrants to comply with required “registration” and fingerprinting provisions. Most non-immigrant visa holders will NOT be affected. If you or your dependents were issued a non-immigrant visa prior to arrival and/or you have a valid I-94 and were legally admitted to the US, your I-94 is evidence of your “registration”. However, some individuals crossing Canadian land borders and dependent children who have or are turning 14 while in the U.S. may be impacted. You can review the USCIS procedures to determine if you or your dependents need to register or re-register and you can retrieve your I-94 which serves as proof of registration here.
Protest Participation
Per a Fact Sheet and Executive Order issued in January 2025, entitled Additional Measures to Combat Anti-Semitism, we are seeing active measures being undertaken by several agencies including the Department of State, Department of Justice, and Homeland Security to seek out and cancel the visas of individuals who participated in protest activities related to the Israel-Hamas conflict in an Artificial Intelligence generated program called “Catch and Revoke.”
While international students have a right to protest, please be advised that these activities do carry increased risk of adverse immigration related impact in the current climate. We advise you to be conscientious of your social media presence and understand that there can always be immigration consequences if you are arrested for any reason.
