The US B-1/B-2 visitor visa: DS-160, fee, interview

A B-1/B-2 visa is the US visitor visa: B-1 for business, B-2 for tourism, usually issued as one. You fill in the DS-160 form online, pay a $185 application fee, and in almost every case attend an interview at a US embassy or consulate in the country where you live. Citizens of Visa Waiver Program countries can usually skip all of that and use ESTA instead.

A note on sources before anything else. The State Department’s own site, travel.state.gov, blocked our reader on 30 September 2026. Where a figure below comes from it, we read it from the most recent copy held by the Internet Archive, and we give that copy’s date. Everything else was read live on 30 September 2026 from US embassy sites and the Federal Register. Check the live travel.state.gov page before you pay anything.

ESTA or a visa

The Visa Waiver Program lets citizens of 42 countries visit for business or tourism for up to 90 days without a visa, according to CBP (read 30 September 2026). Those travellers apply online for an ESTA instead.

If your country is not in the programme, or you want to stay longer than 90 days, or you have been refused an ESTA, you need a visa. The US visa page shows which applies to your passport.

What a visitor may do

The State Department’s visitor visa page (capture of 11 July 2026) lists, for B-1: consulting business associates, attending a conference, settling an estate, negotiating a contract. For B-2: tourism, visiting friends or relatives, medical treatment, amateur events without pay, and a short recreational course not for credit.

You may not study, work, give paid performances, work as crew or as foreign press, or live in the US. Birth tourism is not a permitted purpose.

The DS-160 and the $185 fee

The steps, as the US Embassy in London sets them out (read live on 30 September 2026):

1. Complete the DS-160 online and print the confirmation page.
2. Pay the application (MRV) fee and book an interview through the embassy’s appointment system.
3. Attend the interview with your documents.

The DS-160 itself is free. The application fee for a B-1/B-2 is $185. That figure is on travel.state.gov’s fees page as “Non-petition-based nonimmigrant visa (except E): $185.00” in the Internet Archive capture of 9 July 2026, and on its visitor visa page in the capture of 11 July. It matches our US visa page. The fee is not refundable, even if you are refused.

For the interview the visitor visa page lists a passport valid for at least six months beyond your stay (unless your country is exempt under an agreement with the US), the DS-160 confirmation page, and your fee receipt where you paid in advance. The photo is uploaded with the DS-160. Some embassies, London among them, also ask for a printed one.

Officers may ask for evidence of the purpose of your trip, your intention to leave, and your ability to pay. The State Department says employment and family ties may be enough. It also says an invitation letter or affidavit of support is not needed and “is not one of the factors” used to decide.

The visa integrity fee

The 2025 budget law, Public Law 119-21, created a visa integrity fee in section 100007. We read the text on govinfo.gov on 30 September 2026. It says:

• it is payable by anyone issued a nonimmigrant visa, at the time of issuance
• the amount for fiscal year 2025 is the greater of $250 or an amount DHS sets by rule
• from fiscal year 2026 it rises each year with inflation
• it cannot be waived or reduced
• it may be reimbursed after the visa expires if you kept to its conditions and left on time

The law is not the same as collection. The DHS notice in the Federal Register of 22 July 2025 says the fee “requires cross-agency coordination” and “will be implemented in a future publication”. We found no Federal Register notice implementing it up to 30 September 2026. The State Department’s fees page and visitor page, in the July 2026 captures we could read, do not mention it at all.

So we cannot tell you it is being collected, how or at what amount. If you are asked for it, check that the request comes from the embassy itself. Do not pay it to anyone else.

Reciprocity: why the same visa lasts longer for some people

The $185 is the same for everyone. What the visa gives you is not. Each nationality has a reciprocity schedule on travel.state.gov with three columns for each visa type:

• Fee: an issuance fee, paid after approval, on top of the $185. Many countries have none.
• Number of entries: “M” for multiple, or a number such as “One”.
• Validity period: how long you can use the visa to travel, counted from the date of issue.

Validity is not how long you may stay. That is decided by the officer at the airport when you arrive.

Nigeria as an example

In the Internet Archive capture of 13 July 2026, the Nigeria reciprocity schedule shows B-1, B-2 and B-1/B-2 visas as: fee none, one entry, valid 3 months.

That schedule is no longer the whole story, and for a Nigerian traveller it is not the main one. Two newer measures sit on top of it.

Presidential Proclamation 10998. Published in the Federal Register on 19 December 2025 and in force from 1 January 2026, section 5 suspends the entry of Nigerian nationals as immigrants and on B-1, B-2, B-1/B-2, F, M and J visas. It does not apply to people who already held a valid visa on that date, and it does not revoke visas issued before it. Exceptions include US permanent residents, dual nationals travelling on a passport of a country not listed, and athletes travelling for the World Cup, Olympics or similar events. The US Mission in Nigeria still carried the notice on 30 September 2026. It says affected applicants may apply and attend interviews but “may be ineligible for visa issuance or admission”.

The visa bond. The same embassy page says that from 21 January 2026 Nigerian nationals found otherwise eligible for a B-1/B-2 visa must post a bond of up to $15,000, and that the visa cannot be issued until it is paid. The bond is covered in the next section.

The Nigerian passport page has the rest of the picture.

The visa bond

A pilot began on 20 August 2025. The Federal Register final rule of 3 August 2026 made it permanent from that date. What the rule says:

• It applies only to B-1/B-2 applicants from countries the State Department lists on travel.state.gov. The list can change, with 15 days’ notice for additions.
• The officer decides at the interview whether a bond is needed and sets it at $10,000, $15,000 or $20,000, normally $15,000.
• You are refused under section 221(g) until the bond is posted, through a link the embassy sends. The embassy page for Nigeria warns applicants not to use any third-party website and not to pay before an officer tells them to.
• A bonded visa is valid for three months single entry, three months multiple entry, or up to twelve months multiple entry, depending on reciprocity.
• You must enter and leave through commercial airports, not land or sea borders.
• The bond is returned, without interest, when the visa expires or is cancelled and you have kept to its conditions.

Interviews and interview waivers

Under the State Department update of 18 September 2025, effective 1 October 2025 (capture of 11 July 2026), almost every applicant needs an in-person interview, including children under 14 and adults over 79, who were previously exempt.

For a visitor, the only waiver route is renewal. You may be able to skip the interview if you are renewing a B-1, B-2 or B-1/B-2 visa within 12 months of its expiry, the old visa was issued for full validity, and you were at least 18 when it was issued. You must also apply in your country of nationality or usual residence, never have been refused a visa (unless the refusal was overcome or waived), and have no apparent ineligibility. Officers can still call anyone in.

Where to apply

Since 6 September 2025 the State Department’s instruction is that applicants should book their interview at the embassy or consulate in their country of nationality or residence. Both the Nigeria and London embassy pages repeated this on 30 September 2026. The September 2025 notice added that applying elsewhere may make it harder to qualify, and fees for such applications are not refunded or transferred.

For Nigerians there is a further change. The US Mission’s page says that from 1 August 2026 routine visa services stopped at a list of posts in sub-Saharan Africa that includes Abuja, with services consolidated in regional hubs. The page lists the Consulate General in Lagos among its locations, but does not itself say which hub serves each country. Check the embassy site before booking.

Wait times

Appointment waits change daily and differ by post. We do not quote them. The State Department publishes them by city in its visa appointment wait times tool. No agent can get you an earlier slot than the embassy releases.

Refusals under section 214(b)

Most visitor refusals are under section 214(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. The State Department’s visa denials page (capture of 11 July 2026) says it means you did not show you qualify for the visa, or did not overcome the legal presumption that you intend to immigrate, by showing strong ties that will make you leave. Ties means things like your job, your home and your family.

The same page is clear on what happens next:

• The refusal applies to that application only. It is not permanent.
• There is no appeal process.
• You may reapply, with a new DS-160, a new fee and a new interview. You should be able to show significant changes in your circumstances since the last application.
• The fee from the refused application is not refunded.

A 221(g) refusal is different. It means something was missing or needs administrative processing. You have a year to supply what was asked for without paying again.

Checklist

• Check on the US visa page whether ESTA covers you.
• If your nationality is covered by Proclamation 10998, read the embassy notice before paying anything.
• Fill in the DS-160 yourself on the official site. It is free.
• Pay only the $185 fee, only through the embassy’s own appointment system.
• Book the interview in your country of nationality or residence.
• Check your country’s reciprocity schedule for any issuance fee, entries and validity.
• Bring a valid passport, the DS-160 confirmation and your fee receipt.
• Bring evidence of your job, home, family and money. Invitation letters do not decide it.
• If a bond is required, pay it only through the link the embassy sends, after the officer tells you to.
• If refused under 214(b), do not reapply until something real has changed.