The US Is Now Selling Faster Visa Interviews for $750 — Here's Where It Actually Works

If you've tried to book a US tourist or business visa interview this year, you already know the wait can run past a year at some posts. On June 9, 2026, the State Department published a temporary rule offering a way to skip most of that line — for a price. And as of two weeks ago, the list of places where you can actually use it just got longer.

The US Is Now Selling Faster Visa Interviews for $750 — Here's Where It Actually Works

What the Pilot Actually Is

Starting July 1, 2026, B-1 (business) and B-2 (tourist) visa applicants at participating posts can pay an optional $750 fee to secure an interview appointment within 10 business days, instead of waiting out the regular queue. It's on top of the standard $185 MRV visa application fee — so all in, roughly $935 in government fees if you use it.

The pilot launched first at posts in Mexico on July 21, and on August 18, 2026 expanded to five more locations: Canada (the embassy and all consulates), and the embassies in Bogotá (Colombia), Guatemala City, San José (Costa Rica), and Tegucigalpa (Honduras). It's scheduled to run through December 31, 2026, with a capacity of about 25,000 expedited requests for the full pilot period. The State Department projects it could bring in roughly $19.3 million in revenue.

Notably absent so far: India, despite having some of the longest visitor visa wait times in the world. If you're applying from a post not on the current list, this option simply isn't available to you yet — the State Department says it will publish further additions to the list on travel.state.gov as they happen.

What $750 Actually Buys You — and What It Doesn't

This is the part worth reading twice before paying anything:

• It only moves your interview date earlier. It does not speed up the actual visa decision, doesn't change your eligibility, and doesn't create any advantage once you're in the interview room.

• It does not guarantee approval. A consular officer still makes the same decision they'd make on the regular timeline — the same standard screening and vetting rules apply either way.

• It does not speed up administrative processing. If your case gets flagged for additional review under Section 221(g) after the interview, the $750 doesn't touch that clock at all.

• The fee is non-refundable, and if you miss your expedited appointment, you lose both the slot and the money.

• It's genuinely optional. Consular managers can still expedite interviews for free in specific humanitarian or urgent-travel cases — this pilot doesn't replace that existing no-cost pathway, it just adds a paid one on top.

Why Now

The State Department has been fairly direct about the timing: it cites the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which is drawing a surge of B-1/B-2 applications from fans, journalists, and business travelers, and preparation for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics as the backdrop for testing a premium appointment service. One immigration academic quoted in coverage of the launch was blunter about the mismatch — noting the pilot's timeline doesn't fully overlap with the World Cup itself, which limits how much it can actually help fans trying to get in before matches start.

Is It Worth Paying?

That depends entirely on how time-sensitive your travel is:

• Worth considering if you have a genuinely urgent, time-bound reason to travel — a business deal with a hard deadline, a one-time event, a family situation — and your post is on the participating list.

• Not worth it if you're applying well ahead of your travel date and can absorb the standard wait, since the fee buys you nothing but time, and not very predictably even that — it depends on slot availability at your specific post.

• Not a fix for a difficult case. If your visa history, documentation, or ties to your home country make approval uncertain, paying $750 just gets you to that same uncertain outcome ten business days sooner.

What to Actually Do

• Check travel.state.gov before assuming your post participates. The list is expanding in stages — Mexico first, then Canada and four Central/South American posts in August — and is not worldwide.

• Complete the normal process first. You still submit Form DS-160 and pay the standard $185 MRV fee and book a regular appointment before the expedite option even appears as a choice.

• Don't count on this for World Cup or Olympics travel specifically unless your timeline lines up — the pilot period doesn't fully cover either event, so plan your interview date with real slack built in regardless.

This is a small, narrow program — a few thousand slots at a handful of posts — but it's a useful marker of where things are headed: US visa processing this year has repeatedly moved toward paid options layered on top of already-existing fees, from this expedite pilot to the separate B-1/B-2 bond program some nationalities face. Worth watching whether it expands further, or becomes permanent, once the pilot period ends in December.