U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the Oval Office of the White House, in Washington, D.C., June 3, 2026. Image @ REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
Getting a U.S. visa is about to get faster — for those who can afford it. Washington has unveiled a paid fast-track option that lets tourist and business visa applicants jump the interview queue for an extra $750, a move that critics say will deepen inequalities in an already costly and restrictive system that has hit African travelers particularly hard.
The U.S. State Department announced the pilot programme on Tuesday, confirming it will take effect on July 1 and run through December 31. Under the scheme, applicants for B-1 and B-2 visitor visas can pay the non-refundable $750 expedited fee on top of the standard $185 application charge, bringing the total cost to $935, in exchange for a guaranteed interview appointment within ten business days at a participating embassy or consulate. The list of participating posts will be published before the programme launches.
The State Department projects approximately 25,705 expedited appointments during the pilot period, generating an estimated $19.3 million in fees. At the close of the pilot, officials will decide whether to make the arrangement permanent. Expedited slots will be capped as a share of each post’s overall interview capacity, the department said, to avoid significantly lengthening wait times for applicants who opt out. Existing humanitarian fast-track channels for urgent cases such as medical emergencies remain available separately and free of charge.
Paying more, however, buys speed, not certainty. The premium fee covers only the scheduling of an interview slot; it does not improve an applicant’s chances of approval, accelerate background checks, or waive any standard consular requirements. Full eligibility screening applies regardless.
The department cited the 2026 FIFA World Cup and the upcoming 2028 Los Angeles Olympics as part of the rationale for launching the pilot now , with both events drawing large international audiences to the United States. The median global wait time for a visa appointment currently stands at 30 days, though at certain consular posts the backlog stretches beyond 12 months.
For African applicants, the new fee lands on already difficult terrain. The Trump administration has progressively tightened its visa architecture over the past year, introducing more extensive background checks, expanded social media scrutiny, and closer examination of travel histories and financial records.
Most consequentially for the continent, the administration has grown its visa bond programme to cover 50 countries, the majority of them African, requiring eligible applicants to lodge refundable cash deposits of $5,000, $10,000 or $15,000 as a condition for receiving a B-1 or B-2 visa. Washington has defended the bonds as effective at reducing overstays, pointing to data showing that 97 percent of the roughly 1,000 people who posted bonds departed the U.S. within their permitted period.
Critics, however, argue that stacking a $750 fast-track fee on top of an already expensive process, and alongside bond requirements that can reach $15,000, is quietly pricing out a generation of African students, business travellers, and tourists. For applicants at embassies with the longest backlogs, the choice increasingly becomes: pay to be seen in 10 days, or wait potentially a year in the standard queue. That is less a service improvement, opponents contend, than a formalisation of a two-tier system in which access to the United States is increasingly rationed by wealth.
The challenges are not limited to individual travellers. African sporting delegations have already encountered visa complications ahead of major international tournaments, with players and officials reporting delays and documentation hurdles that have disrupted preparation schedules. As Washington continues reshaping its entry requirements, African governments face growing pressure to engage more assertively on visa access, or risk watching the U.S. become, in practical terms, increasingly out of reach.
By: Andrews Kwwsi Yeboah