Boniface Mwangi weighs in on the US Embassy fee increment, Kenyans react

In a statement released on Wednesday, Kenyans will, from May 30, 2023, start paying higher fees to acquire their non-immigrant visas (NIV) after the United States embassy reviewed its worldwide visa fees. 

The Embassy said that the "slight increases" were caused by the "rising cost of the inputs associated with the services provided by consular sections around the world." 

Reacting to the new developments, political activist Boniface Mwangi has questioned the rationale behind the decision and also called upon Parliament to enact laws to ensure that unsuccessful applicants recieved at least '80%' of their monies.  

"This is how the US government collects billions from Kenyans every year. Parliament should pass a law that embassies must refund 80% of the visa fees to an applicant if they don’t get issued a visa. We should stop this daylight robbery!" he tweeted.

The tweet, which has so far been seen by at least 150k people, recieved all manner of responses with many siding with Mr. Mwangi while others being of the opposite reasoning.

Popular car importer Khalif Kairo sharply disagreed with Boniface saying that the 'labour cost of profiling every visa application' justified the hefty fees.

"Have you thought about the labour cost of profiling every visa application? Going through all that paperwork and the cost of the advanced technology employed (R & D plus implementation?) I mean, the americans aren’t forcing you to apply or visit their country?" he replied.

Another user @kazurijo tweeted," Getting a US visa is like winning a lottery. It is pointless to apply for two thirds of the people. Educate people to go for what's possible. The average Kenyan will never ever get a US visa."

 According to the same statement, visitor visas for business or tourism (B1/B2s) and other categories, such as student (F) and exchange visitor visas (J), will be increased from Ksh.21,824 ($160) to Ksh.25,234 ($185) under the revised cost schedule.