No increase on visa fees for Mexicans, despite Donald Trump’s campaign promise

President Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential election campaign said that the United States would "not be taken advantage of anymore" and that the United States would increase visa fees for Mexicans until Mexico paid for a border wall.

However, Trump's administration did not increase the visa fees he outlined in his 2016 immigration plan, and Mexico did not pay for a border wall.

Trump specifically said he'd hike fees for border crossing cards, which serve as a B1/B2 visitor's visa, and are issued to citizens and residents of Mexico who are likely to return to Mexico after a temporary stay in the United States. The card costs $160 for adults — the same price since its last increase in April 2012.

Trump also promised to raise visa fees for Mexican CEOs and diplomats, and for workers who come under the North American Free Trade Agreement (an updated and renamed version of this agreement went into effect July 1, 2020). None of those visa fees have increased either, according to the State Department.

Diplomats who come under the A visa category are exempt from visa fees. The TN visa fee for trade-related professionals is unchanged at $160. The fee for the L visa, the visa category that most aligns with Trump's reference to Mexican CEOs, also remains at the price before Trump took office, $190. (A filing fee related to the L visa that must be paid to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services also remains at $460.)

Nonimmigrant visa applicants from certain countries may be required to pay a visa issuance fee, or a "reciprocity fee," in addition to the visa application fee. The State Department says that those issuance fees are based on the principle of reciprocity — when a foreign government imposes fees on U.S. citizens for certain types of visas, the U.S. will do the same to citizens of that foreign government for similar types of visas. For Mexico, there is a reciprocity fee for L visas (the amount varies), but none for TN visas or for border crossing cards, according to the State Department.

Trump promised to increase visa fees for Mexican nationals to compel Mexico to pay for a border wall. His administration did not increase those fees (and Mexico did not pay for a wall). We rate this a Promise Broken.