Mumbai, May 25 (IANS): The US has hiked the fees and introduced a two-tiered fee structure for all non-immigrant visas which will come into effect from June 4, a US consulate statement said here Tuesday.

Accordingly, all applicants for business or tourist (B-1/B-2), crew member (C-1/D), student (F or M), or exchange (J) categories will now have to pay $140 and receive a white coloured receipt.

Petition-based work visas (H, L, O, P, Q and R categories) will now pay $150 and receive a green coloured receipt.

These two coloured receipts will continue to be available at branches of HDFC Bank approved by the US Consulate here.

Fiance (K category) visas will now pay $350 and continue to pay their fees at the consular section.

For those who have purchased their receipts before June 4, will have to pay the balance between the old and new fees at the time of interview.

Earlier, the application fees were a standard $131 for all visas. The new structured system coincides with a small global hike in application fees designed to offset the costs of recent ehnacements to the visa application process, the consulate statement added.

It said that the US Department of State adopted the tiered system since petition-based applications required significantly more processing than other visa applications.

"The rate increase is for improvements in the manner and speed with which visa applications are processed and in particular, for fraud-detection efforts," the statement pointed out.

The total fee would cover the cost of accepting, adjudicating and issuing non-immigrant visa applications.

In India alone, the US government has increased consulate staff by 40 percent in the past four years with an investment of more than US $100 million towards updating and expanding consular facilities.

This includes a new consulate opened in Hyderabad, renovations to the New Delhi consular facilities and a new consulate building in suburban Mumbai.