After “how long does it take?”, the next question every applicant asks is “what will it cost?”. As with processing time, the honest answer is that “a visa” is not one thing. We built a visa fee index covering the official government fee for 335 visa and permit programs across 97 countries, and the spread runs from a few dollars to well over US$40,000.
The cheapest: electronic permits
The lowest fees belong to electronic permits issued without a consulate. Canada’s eTA is CA$7; Australia’s ETA and Armenia’s e-Visa cost only a few dollars. Many countries go further and charge nothing at all for visa-on-arrival or visa-free entry — those genuinely free routes are not in this fee ranking, but you can find them in our longest visa-free stays and e-Visa & ETA guide.
The middle: most travel visas are modest
The typical visa is cheaper than people expect. The median government fee in the index is about US$95, and roughly three-quarters of programs cost under US$200 — including the Schengen short-stay visa (€90) and most tourist and short-stay e-Visas. The fee is the government’s charge to process the application; it is almost always non-refundable if you are refused.
The most expensive: investment, not a fee
At the top sit residence-by-investment and “golden visa” programs, where the headline number is an investment or government contribution rather than an application fee — Paraguay’s investor residency and Malta’s permanent-residence programme run into five figures. We compare those properly in the golden-visa tracker and second-passport ranking. Among ordinary visas, skilled-migration routes (such as Australia’s subclass 190) and the United Kingdom family visa are the priciest, at roughly US$2,000–3,000.
Reading the number
- It is the government fee only. Biometrics, VFS Global or service-centre handling, courier, insurance and agency mark-ups are extra — your total can be higher.
- Currencies are converted for comparison. Each fee is shown in its original currency; the US-dollar figure uses mid-market reference rates and is indicative, especially for high-inflation currencies.
- Fees move. Governments revise fee schedules regularly — always confirm the current amount on the official portal before you pay.
- Cheap to file is not cheap to qualify. A low fee says nothing about income thresholds, deposits or documents the visa requires.
Explore the full sortable table — filter by fee band, or flip it to most-expensive-first — in the visa fee index. To estimate the all-in cost of a specific trip, use the visa cost calculator, and see how long each visa takes in our visa processing-time ranking. Our sourcing method is set out in our Editorial & Data Standards.