Visa application costs: fees, expenses and proof of funds
A practical worksheet for the money you pay, the money you hold, and the money you may recover.
Read the budget guide ↗ WORK · STUDY · EXPLORE
United States work visa
cost calculator.
One adult applying abroad after a sponsor petition; not a complete H-1B employer budget.
A big move.
Fewer unknowns.
Fewer unknowns.
Official fees and real-life expenses,
with every assumption in view.
WorkStudyTravel
01
Where are you heading?
Changing destination or visa type starts a fresh budget.
SELECTED ROUTEH-1B consular application · partial budget
Partial fee preset
The USD205 consular fee is only one part of H-1B costs. Enter sponsor petition, registration, asylum-program, fraud-prevention and other applicable employer charges from the actual filing. The conditional USD100000 payment has 2026 litigation and enforcement uncertainty; the sponsor must verify whether it is payable. No eligibility or collection-status conclusion is made here. Nationality-based issuance fees and any Visa Integrity Fee collection must also be checked separately.
02
Make the numbers yours.
Published fees and your own quotes. Untick anything that does not apply.
Government feesCourses & assessmentsVariable expenses
Funding choices describe who pays in this budget. They do not authorise charging a worker. Some sponsor costs must remain employer-funded; check the source linked to the charge.
03
Currencies & funds held
Keep conversions visible and bank balances separate.
Exchange-rate assumptions
ECB reference snapshot: 30 Oct 2026. Editable units of each currency per €1. These are planning values, not live rates or bank/card quotes; no FX fees are added. ECB source ↗
Optional personal entry in your budget currency. A balance you must show is not automatically a payment or a refusal loss. It is excluded from all costs and loss totals. Enter any account/provider fees as expenses separately.
How the estimate works
Costs paid, expected refunds and refusal stage
Each enabled amount is converted into your budget currency and rounded to cents. Potential cash loss = amounts paid by the selected refusal stage − expected cash refunds. Payments at a later stage are excluded. Every row assumes the whole amount is paid at its selected stage; split deposits and balances into separate rows if needed.
Refunds can change with the refusal stage. For example, an Irish employment-permit refusal has a different refund rule from a later visa refusal. A source-based percentage is used where established; otherwise 0% is a cautious assumption, not a verified non-refundable rule. You can override it in the row’s assumptions.
Reusable certificates, future visa applications and insurance cover are not cash refunds. No probability of refusal, compensation, lost income or loan interest is calculated.
What a partial fee preset means
We researched one named adult route for each purpose and destination. This is not every visa category or every applicable charge. Local service fees, taxes, employer levies, nationality agreements, family members, future renewals and route-specific exemptions can change the budget. Missing charges are stated in each route’s scope and notes; an initial zero in an expense row means no quote entered.
Work, study and tourism have separate charges. Tuition and health-insurance premiums are supplier expenses. Proof-of-funds balances are shown separately. The adult Schengen tourist preset is one relevant application fee; a trip through several member states does not create one visa fee per destination.
Privacy, downloads and corrections
Calculations run in your browser. This calculator does not ask for a name, passport number, payment card or contact details. No calculator analytics, account creation, server submission or automatic saving of your entries is used. Refreshing clears your edits; download the CSV to keep a copy. Hosting providers and external source sites have their own technical logging and privacy terms. Google AdSense setup code is installed; ad requests are currently paused. Read the privacy and advertising disclosures.
Sources were researched on 31 Oct 2026; there is no automatic fee-update feed. Verify the official charge and written refund terms before payment. The publisher can correct and update this tool; it is not an official fee quotation.
SOURCED STARTING POINT
United States work visa fee references
One adult applying abroad after a sponsor petition; not a complete H-1B employer budget. Partial reference, not an all-inclusive quotation.
| Published charge | Source-currency amount | Timing assumption | Authority / operator |
|---|---|---|---|
| H-category visa application fee Published petition-based H visa application fee. This fee is non-refundable; sponsor petition costs are separate. | US$205.00 | Before visa decision | U.S. State Department · visa fees ↗ |
| Employer petition and registration charges · enter actual total USD0 is an unfilled input, not a fee waiver. Sponsor size, filing method, exemptions and filing type affect charges. Include only verified applicable amounts; do not transfer employer-only charges to the applicant. | US$0.00 | Initial permit/petition | USCIS · fee schedule ↗ |
| Conditional H-1B payment · enforcement unverified OFF by default. The official proclamation extends a conditional USD100000 payment for covered outside-US H-1B cases, with exceptions. Current collection/enforcement and litigation effects were not independently verified. Enable only after sponsor verification. Refund treatment is unresolved in this model. Conditional · off by default | US$100,000.00 | Initial permit/petition | White House · September 2026 H-1B proclamation ↗ |
FEES, INSURANCE & REFUND PLANNING
All budget guides ↗United States work visa budget questions
Source-linked explanations and worked examples. They help organise a budget and do not assess immigration eligibility.
Is every work-permit cost paid by the applicant?
No. The estimate separates applicant, employer and sponsor funding. Some sponsor charges remain locked to the employer. A payer selection does not authorise passing a charge to a worker.
Does a later visa refusal use the same refund rule as a permit refusal?
Not necessarily. Select the correct refusal stage and check each payment’s applicable official rule or supplier contract. Payments not yet made at that stage are excluded.
How much might I lose if my United States visa is refused?
Use amounts already paid by the chosen stage, less expected cash refunds. Unknown refund terms start at an editable 0% assumption. This is neither a guaranteed refund result nor a refusal probability. Read the route scope and each row’s assumptions.
Information only. Your decisions remain yours.
Created by Bishnu Prasad Dahal for general information and personal budgeting. I do not provide recruitment or immigration advice. This calculator does not recruit workers, arrange visas, assess eligibility or guarantee outcomes or refunds. It is independent and is not affiliated with any government, embassy, visa centre, university or insurer. Verify fees and written supplier terms with the relevant authority or provider, and consult an appropriately authorised adviser for individual advice.