What do I need to do to contact a US embassy about paying a fee my consular officer apparently 'forgot' about?

Question

I am a South African citizen applying for a US F-1 (student) VISA from the London embassy, and I was told in my 30 second interview that I qualified and everything was fine, however a week ago I was contacted and told that my consular officer 'forgot' to tell me that I needed to pay a fee as I was applying out of my own country. I was in a meeting and so politely asked that they contact me at a later time, which they have made no effort to do! I have had no response since from them, and I have no idea how to contact them or pay this unkown fee, of which there is no detail on the embassy's site! I am frustrated and would be very appreciative of any help!

Answer 1

There is an $85 reciprocity fee for US student visa for South African citizens.  That fee is not charged because you applied outside your own country; it is charged because South Africa charges US citizens the same amount for student visas.

It is absolutely possible that the consul forgot the fee, since it only shows up in a tiny little box on the computer screen, since the system will let us issue a visa without charging the fee, and since the huge majority of US visas no longer involve anything but the $100 application fee.  In fact, tourist visas for South African citizens have no fee; only study and work visas.

If you already have the visa in hand, you still should go back and pay the fee, although the visa is valid without it.  If you didn't collect the visa yet, you should pay when you go to pick it up.

Here is the fee schedule for South Africans:

http://www.travel.state.gov/visa/frvi/re...

Added:

Actually, you were notified; they called you.  And since they still have your passport and clearly won't finish processing your visa without your having paid the fee, you need to go pay it.

You must pay it directly to the consular cashier; unlike the application fee, it can't be paid any other way.  How easy that will be will depend on the workload of the consulate.  You could 1. Call them and ask, 2. call their call center and ask, or 3. take a chance, go there, tell the guards you're only going in to pay a fee, pay the fee, take the receipt to the visa intake window and make sure they know it's for you.

And be nice.  The process is extremely complex, and mistakes can happen.