The U.S.Department of State has revised the worldwide nonimmigrant Machine Readable Visa (MRV) fee from $100 to $131 effective January 1, 2008.

Visa applicants who paid the $100 application fee and who appear for an interview after January 31, 2008 will be required to bring a non-refundable demand draft for the $31 difference in fee.

The U.S. Mission in India will not be able to significantly increase the number of visa appointments in January.
Travelers are cautioned against speculative purchases of $100 MRV appointment receipts in December. Applicants who have not yet purchased a MRV fee receipt from HDFC bank are encouraged to wait until 2008 to pay the application fee to avoid the inconvenience of obtaining a demand draft for the $31 fee difference after January 31, 2008.

US Fee Revised With effect from 15th Oct ,2007 due to US Dollar rate change. - news cast - 15 Oct , 2007

United States consular sections in India, in response to the recent rise in value of the rupee against the U.S. dollar, will adjust the consular exchange rate from Rs. 42 to Rs. 40 to the U.S. dollar effective Monday, October 15, 2007.

The rate change applies to all rupee-denominated costs for visa and passport applications, including the nonimmigrant visa application fee paid at HDFC Bank branches prior to the scheduling of visa appointments. The new application fee for nonimmigrant visas is Rs. 4,000. Please note that this does not include additional processing fees charged by HDFC Bank and our appointment service provider VFS.

Rescheduling Appointments ( July 24, 2007)

Effective from July 16, 2007 The Embassy/Consulate has withdrawn the ‘Reschedule’ option on the website. If you wish to move your interview appointment to a new date, you must first cancel your existing interview appointment.
You will then be required to complete your visa application forms and schedule a new appointment.

Note: You can cancel your scheduled interview appointment maximum 2 times. After your second cancellation your HDFC fee receipt will get disabled for a period of 90 days. You will not be able to take a new appointment during that period.

NO SHOW APPLICANTS, ( May 7th 2007)

Applicants that have failed to appear for their scheduled interview appointment at the U.S. Embassy or at the U.S. Consulate in Chennai, Mumbai or Kolkata are considered as 'NO SHOW' applicants.

If a 'NO SHOW' applicant wishes to schedule a new appointment, needs to reactivate their HDFC bank receipt a minimum of 2 working days after their scheduled interview appointment date:

1. Visit any of our VFS application centre along with your passport and valid original HDFC bank fee receipt.

2. Pay a service charge of Rs.155/- per applicant (inclusive of service tax@ 12% and education cess at .24%). This fees has to be paid at VFS application centre ONLY, in cash or via demand draft in favour of ‘HDFC bank a/c VFS’.

Note: This fee is not to be paid at HDFC bank.

3. You can then use the same HDFC bank fee receipt to schedule a new interview appointment within the validity period of the HDFC bank fee receipt (1 year from the date of purchase).
Note: Applicants scheduled at Mumbai Consulate that are No Show due to non submission of documents to VFS may also apply for reactivation of their receipt.

US Fee Revised With effect from 16 April ,2007 due to US Dollar rate change. - news cast - 1st May 2007

In response to the recent rise in value of the rupee against the dollar, all United States consular sections in India will adjust the consular exchange rate from Rs. 44 to the dollar to Rs. 42 to the dollar effective Tuesday May 1st, 2007. 

This rate change is effective for all rupee-denominated costs of applying for visas and passports, including the nonimmigrant visa application fee paid at HDFC branch banks prior to the scheduling of visa appointments.  The new application fee for nonimmigrant visas is Rs. 4,200.  Please note that this does not include HDFC or VFS processing fees. 

This is 2nd revision in last 2 weeks, due to decline value of dollar against INR.

http://www.path2usa.com/news/newsdetails.php?nws_id=63

more details - http://www.path2usa.com/news/newsdetails.php?nws_id=60

VFS Service charges revised to 322 Rs.
Dec 1 1, 2006

Effective December 11,2006 the service charge has been revised from Rs.310/- to Rs.322/- which includes VFS’ service charge Rs310/- & Bank service charge Rs12/- (inclusive of Service Tax @ 12% and Education Cess Tax @0.24%).
Note : This is only for the new applicants scheduling their appointment after 11th of DEC, 06. People who already have appointment do not need to pay this revised fee.

English-speaking applicants can now apply at the U.S. Embassy, New Delhi or the U.S. Consulates in Chennai or Mumbai
December 04, 2006

In an effort to improve service, nonimmigrant visa applicants who speak fluent English now have the option to apply for a nonimmigrant visa at the U.S. Embassy, New Delhi or the U.S. Consulates in Chennai or Mumbai. Applicants who wish to take advantage of this option should book their appointment online through VFS.

If you are a resident of India, you are required to select your current ‘State of Residence’ where you have been residing for the past six months or longer. Later in the process, when you are scheduling your interview, you may see calendars offering dates at more than one consulate . If you are a fluent English speaker and have not been previously refused a visa, you may select an interview date from any consulate shown. If you are not fluent in English or were previously denied a visa, you must select a date only from the consulate covering the area where you reside. Applicants denied a visa can only seek to have the decision reviewed by reapplying at the consulate where the denial occurred.

Nonimmigrant visa application forms must now be generated online

Effective November 1, all applicants must fill out their applications online to improve accuracy and speed up processing at the time of the visa interview. Those who booked their visa interview appointment online through VFS are not affected by this change. Those who have handwritten or typed applications should provide application forms generated through the Department of State's website or ones generated online through the VFS booking system. To generate an application form, be it DS-156, DS-157 or DS-158, through Department of State's website, click here.

At your visa interview appointment, if you do not present application forms generated online your application will not be accepted. You will be asked to obtain application forms generated online. Please do not enter the queue outside Gate 6 (Visa Gate) of the U.S. Embassy, New Delhi unless you have forms generated online.

Visa applicants should also present unmounted, passport-style, full-face photos with a white background. The photos should be 2 inches (50 mm) square with the applicant's head being 1 inch to 1 3/8 inches (25 mm to 35 mm) from top to bottom. The photos must have been taken in the last six months. For more details, click here.

U.S. Embassy Changes Nonimmigrant Visa Interview Appointment System to Prevent Misuse -Oct 11, 2006

If the applicant does not appear for a visa interview appointment, the HDFC Visa Fee Receipt will be deactivated. The applicant will not be able to book another appointment. If the applicant has a valid reason why he/she did not appear for the appointment, he/she can request that VFS reactivate your Visa Fee Receipt. To make the request the applicant must go in person to the nearest VFS U.S. Visa Application Center and bring with the applicant's passport and HDFC Visa Fee Receipt. At the Center, the applicant request that the receipt is reactivated, explain why it was not possible to appear for the appointment and show them the applicant's passport and HDFC Visa Fee Receipt. VFS will then decide whether to reactivate the receipt or not. If VFS reactivates the applicant's receipt, the applicant will be able to book another appointment through VFS.

The Embassy regrets any inconvenience these changes may cause visa applicants. All other parts of the visa interview appointment system remain the same.