US Visa MRV Fee for F-1 Students From Pakistan: How Much and How to Pay 2026

What is the MRV fee, and who charges it?

MRV stands for machine readable visa. The MRV fee is the application processing fee for a US nonimmigrant visa, and it is charged by the US Department of State. Every F-1 student applicant pays it. It covers the work of processing your application, whether the consular officer approves you or not. That last point surprises people, so sit with it. The fee buys the review, not the visa.

It is sometimes just called the visa application fee or the visa fee, which is where confusion starts, because students also hear about the SEVIS fee and assume they are the same thing. They are not. The MRV fee goes to the Department of State for processing your interview application. The SEVIS fee goes to a different agency for a different purpose. Keep the two names apart in your head from the beginning and the rest of the process gets simpler.

You pay the MRV fee after your school issues your Form I-20 and after you complete your DS-160, but before you can book the interview slot. The payment is what unlocks the appointment calendar. No paid MRV fee, no interview date.

How much is the MRV fee for an F-1 student in 2026?

Here is the figure, from the source that sets it. As of 1 October 2026, the US Department of State lists the nonimmigrant visa application processing fee for a non-petition-based visa, which includes the F and M student categories, at USD 185. That is the MRV fee for an F-1 student. It is the same amount in Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore, because it is a federal fee, not a local one.

A few things to hold on to. The fee is per applicant, so if you and a sibling both apply, each of you pays USD 185. You pay it in advance, before the interview, not at the embassy window. And you pay it in Pakistani rupees at the exchange rate the payment system sets on the day, which drifts, so the rupee amount you see is not fixed from week to week. Budget a small buffer for that.

Because the fee is quoted in dollars but collected in rupees, do not be surprised if the rupee figure on the payment screen differs slightly from what a friend paid last month. The dollar amount is the anchor. USD 185 is the number to remember, and the one the Department of State publishes.

How is the MRV fee different from SEVIS and the DS-160?

This is the heart of the confusion, so here it is laid out plainly. There are three separate things, and only two of them cost money at this stage.

The SEVIS fee is the one most often mixed up with the MRV fee, because both are paid before the interview and both are in dollars. But they are genuinely different. As of 1 October 2026, the I-901 SEVIS fee is USD 350 for an F-1 student, charged by a federal program that runs the student tracking database. We cover it in full in our SEVIS I-901 fee guide. The MRV fee, USD 185, is the Department of State's processing charge for your visa interview. Pay both. They do not replace each other.

The DS-160 itself costs nothing. What it gives you is a confirmation page with a ten digit barcode, and you need that barcode number later to book the interview. So the form is free, but it is not optional, and its barcode is part of the booking. Our step-by-step walkthrough of how to fill in the DS-160 covers that form on its own.

How do Pakistani students pay the MRV fee?

You pay the MRV fee through the official US visa information service for Pakistan, at ustraveldocs.com/pk, not through any third party that promises to do it for you. The broad flow looks like this, though you should always follow the current on-screen steps, because the portal updates.

1. Create your profile on the official US visa appointment website for Pakistan and start a new nonimmigrant visa application.
2. Select the F visa category and choose your payment method when the site offers it.
3. Generate the fee payment slip or reference the site produces for you.
4. Pay the fee, which for a bank deposit in Pakistan is made at a designated Allied Bank branch using that slip.
5. Keep the receipt, because the receipt number is what lets you schedule the interview.

After you pay, the payment takes a short time to register in the system, usually a business day or so for a bank deposit, before you can book. Do not expect to pay and book in the same minute. Pay a few days before you want to grab a slot, so the receipt is active when you log back in. Treat the receipt like cash. If you lose the number, booking stalls.

How do you use the receipt to book an interview?

Once the MRV payment is active, you log back into the official site and schedule your appointment. To do that you need three numbers together, and missing any one of them stops you.

• Your passport number, from the passport you will carry to the interview.
• Your MRV fee payment receipt number, from the receipt the bank or the system gave you.
• The ten digit barcode number from your DS-160 confirmation page.

With those three, you select the US Embassy in Islamabad or the Consulate in Karachi as your interview location and pick a date. Students in Lahore and the surrounding towns usually choose whichever post has an earlier slot, since the fee and the DS-160 work for either. Book as early as you can in the season, because student slots fill fast before the fall intake. When you are ready to prepare for the day itself, our guide on how to prepare for a US student visa interview walks through the questions and the file to carry.

What order do the US fees come in?

Order matters, because each step depends on the one before it. Do them out of sequence and you end up paying for something you cannot yet use. Here is the sequence that works.

1. Your school issues your Form I-20 after admission.
2. Next, pay the SEVIS I-901 fee using the SEVIS ID on that I-20, and print the receipt.
3. Complete the DS-160 online and save the barcode confirmation.
4. Then pay the MRV fee of USD 185 through the official Pakistan visa service.
5. Finally, schedule the interview using your passport number, the MRV receipt and the DS-160 barcode.

Notice where the MRV fee sits. It comes after the I-20, after SEVIS and after the DS-160, and right before scheduling. That placement is deliberate. You need the earlier pieces to exist before the MRV payment can lead anywhere useful. The full picture of US study costs, from tuition to these government fees, sits in our guide to the cost of studying in the USA from Pakistan.

What is the new Visa Integrity Fee?

There is a change you should know about, written carefully because its status is still moving. A new charge called the Visa Integrity Fee, set at USD 250, was created in US law in July 2025. It is meant to apply to most nonimmigrant visa categories, which would include F-1 students, and it is designed to be collected when a visa is issued, on top of the MRV and SEVIS fees rather than instead of them.

Here is the honest part. As of 1 October 2026, this fee is not being charged uniformly, implementation guidance has been uneven, and the exact date it reaches every post is not fixed. Some reports describe it as collected at certain posts and not others. So treat it as a cost that may apply to you, not one you can pin down today. Do not pay anyone who claims to collect it privately. Confirm the current position on the official channels before your interview, and budget for the possibility that an extra USD 250 could apply at issuance.

We will update our US guides as the Department of State publishes clear, uniform guidance. For now, plan around the two fees you can confirm, the USD 185 MRV fee and the USD 350 SEVIS fee, and keep the Integrity Fee in view as a possible third.

Is the MRV fee refundable?

No. The MRV fee is not refundable and not transferable to another person. If your visa is refused, the fee is gone, because it paid for the processing of your application, which happened regardless of the outcome. This is why a weak application is expensive twice over: once in the lost fee, and again in the time before you can try properly.

The receipt does have a shelf life you can use. An MRV payment is generally valid for about a year, so if you pay and then need to move your interview within that window, you usually do not pay again. Check the exact validity on the official site when you pay, since the rule is set there. If a refusal is where you have landed, read our guide on what to do after a student visa refusal before you spend another fee on a rushed second attempt.

Common mistakes Pakistani applicants make

The MRV fee is simple, and yet the same errors cost students time every intake.

• Confusing it with the SEVIS fee. They are separate. USD 185 to the Department of State, USD 350 to the SEVIS program. Pay both.
• Paying through an unofficial middleman. Use the official Pakistan visa service and the designated bank only. Avoid anyone offering to pay on your behalf for a markup.
• Trying to book the moment you pay. The payment needs a short time to activate. Pay a few days early.
• Losing the receipt number. Without it you cannot schedule. Save it in two places.
• Mismatched details. The passport number you pay and book under must match the passport you bring.
• Assuming the fee a friend paid is current. It is repriced over time and converted to rupees at the day's rate. Check it fresh.

None of these is complicated. They happen because nobody explained the three-payment structure clearly. Once you see the MRV fee, the SEVIS fee and the free DS-160 as separate steps in a fixed order, the whole thing settles into a checklist you can work through calmly.

A worked example with dates

Take Bilal, a student in Johar Town admitted to a US master's for the fall 2027 intake. His university issues his I-20 in March 2027. He wants his interview booked by May, so he moves in order rather than all at once.

In late March he pays the SEVIS I-901 fee of USD 350 online, using the SEVIS ID on his I-20, and prints the receipt. In early April he completes his DS-160, checks every entry against his passport, and saves the confirmation page with its ten digit barcode. A few days later he creates his profile on the official Pakistan visa service, selects the F category, generates the payment slip, and pays the USD 185 MRV fee at the designated Allied Bank branch. He keeps the receipt number.

Two days later, with the payment active, he logs back in. He enters his passport number, his MRV receipt number and his DS-160 barcode, chooses the Consulate in Lahore area option that shows an earlier date, and books his interview for late April. He budgets a possible USD 250 Visa Integrity Fee at issuance as a precaution, confirms the current position on the official site, and walks in with every receipt in his file. Nothing about the fees trips him up, because he did them in order and kept every number.

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