United States: Pilot Program Offering Expedite Fee for B-1/B-2 Visa Appointments Begins at U.S. Consulates in Mexico
July 23, 2026
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At a glance
- Under a new State Department pilot program in effect until December 31, 2026, U.S. consulates in Mexico will offer B-1/B-2 visa applicants consular visa appointments within 10 business days for an additional fee of $750.
- The expedite fee does not speed up the adjudication of the B visa application.
- As the pilot program expands to other countries, the list of additional consular posts participating in the pilot program will be posted on the State Department website. Even within participating posts, however, the availability of expedited appointments may be limited.
The issue
U.S. consular posts in Mexico are the first to offer expedited B-1/B-2 visa appointments under a State Department pilot program, effective immediately. The pilot program, which was announced last month and will be in effect until December 31, 2026, permits certain U.S. consulates to offer a $750 expedite fee for B-1/B-2 visa applicants to secure a visa appointment within 10 business days. The expedited appointments will be offered in limited quantities at participating posts.
The B visa appointment expedite fee provides an earlier appointment date only – it will not accelerate visa adjudication or processing. Any security- or eligibility-related administrative processing timeframes will be subject to standard timeframes, and as always, may significantly delay visa processing. In addition, applicants who obtain an earlier appointment are subject to the same eligibility requirements for the B visa – an expedited appointment will not increase an applicant’s chance of visa approval.
Under the pilot program, the visa applicant will first submit their DS-160 nonimmigrant visa application and pay the standard machine-readable visa (MRV) fee through the State Department online CEAC system, then have the option to select any expedited appointments that may be available. Further detail on the appointment selection process can be found on the State Department travel.state.gov website; if additional U.S. consular posts are added to the pilot program, they will be identified on this site.
Background
In implementing this pilot program, the State Department says it is testing demand for a fee-based expedited appointment process because, according to the agency, a fee-based process would require fewer consular resources than the existing appointment expedite request process, which is granted only for humanitarian and urgent travel after an eligibility review by consular staff and managers. The current humanitarian/urgent travel expedite request process will still be offered at all U.S. consular posts; under the pilot, participating posts will also offer the option of the new fee-based appointment expedite for B visa applications. Limitations on third-country national processing may be a hurdle to accessing the new expedite option for some foreign nationals, however.
Once the pilot program has concluded at the end of the calendar year, the State Department will analyze program data to determine whether to continue offering the appointment expedite service in some form, and if so, whether to adjust the fee.
This alert is for informational purposes only. If you have any questions, please contact the immigration professional with whom you work at Fragomen.
