How much does an E-2 visa actually cost?

The U.S. government charges $315 per applicant when you apply for an E-2 visa (the MRV fee) — and since October 1, 2025, an additional $250 "Visa Integrity Fee" is collected at issuance, only if the visa is granted. The DS-160 form itself is free, and French nationals pay no reciprocity fee at all.

Everything beyond those government fees is a choice about who does the paperwork.

That gap — between $315 and the $10,000–$15,000 people expect to pay — is the reason this page exists. Almost every search result for E-2 costs is written by a firm that will not quote you a number. Below is an actual fee agreement, restated line by line.

The mandatory costs

The fee is per person and non-refundable whether the visa is approved or refused.

What a family actually pays

Add $250 per visa actually issued (Visa Integrity Fee) on top — up to $1,000 more for a family of four, collected only at issuance.

What a law firm charges

Our founder, Anthony Rosemond, paid $500 for a consultation with an immigration attorney in Los Angeles before filing his own E-2. A few days later the written fee agreement arrived. He never signed it. He kept it.

Restated in our own words — the firm is not named and none of their document is reproduced:

For a family of four: $11,200 in fees alone, before a single government charge. Adjusted for inflation, the same engagement is roughly $15,000 today.

Anthony approached several other firms to check he was not being singled out; they quoted in the same range.

Two details worth pausing on

The business plan was not included. At $7,000, the single hardest document in the package was a $3,000 upsell.

Nothing about the outcome was guaranteed. The agreement said so explicitly. If the visa is refused, the fee is still owed in full. You are buying someone's time assembling documents, not a result.

Law firm vs VisaCrafter: what's included

Same filing. Same twelve tabs. The only difference is who assembles them — and what each side bills on top.

The two rows that matter: the business plan — the hardest document in the package — was a $3,000 add-on, and the review was billed by the hour. Those are precisely the two things most people think they are buying when they hire a lawyer.

And Form G-28 exists only because a lawyer represents you. You pay for a tab you alone caused.

The three routes, compared

Total out-of-pocket for a family of four:

The difference between the first and third bar is not legal expertise. It is who assembles twelve tabs of documents your embassy already publishes a list for.

What about a business plan writer?

If you do not use a lawyer, the common fallback is a specialist business plan writer. Expect $4,000 to $5,000 for an immigration-grade plan.

This is the document most people underestimate. It is also the one that causes the most requests for further evidence — the financial projections in particular, which need to be built for a consular officer rather than for a bank.

The cost that dwarfs all of these

None of the above is the real number. The investment itself is.

The E-2 has no statutory minimum, but the investment must be substantial in proportion to the business, and the enterprise must be more than marginal. That figure is usually six digits and it is money going into your own company, not fees leaving your pocket.

We cover how that proportionality test actually works in how much investment is required for an E-2 visa.

So what does it cost?

Anthony filed twice — an original and then a renewal — and paid $0 in attorney fees both times.

That is not a claim that a lawyer is never worth it. Complicated ownership structures, prior refusals and immigration history are all real reasons to hire one. It is a claim that most founders are paying five figures for document assembly, and that nobody tells them the government's own share is $315.

Sources

• MRV application fee for E-1/E-2, in effect since 17 June 2023 — U.S. Department of State, fees for visa services
• Reciprocity and issuance fees by country — U.S. Department of State, Visa Reciprocity and Civil Documents by Country
• $250 Visa Integrity Fee — created by U.S. law of July 4, 2025, effective October 1, 2025, for nonimmigrant visas; indexed annually; rollout still uneven across consulates
• Attorney figures — a written fee agreement sent to Anthony Rosemond after a paid consultation, which he did not sign. Amounts are shown as received; the present-day equivalent is adjusted for inflation. The firm is not named and no part of their document is reproduced.

VisaCrafter is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice. Fees change without notice and reciprocity varies by nationality — confirm against your own embassy's published guidance before you file.