I addressed this question to NIH Grants Policy and received this
response.

Thank you for contacting the Division of Grants Policy.

Yes, "standard visa processing fees" are considered allowable direct
costs as part of "recruiting costs" on an NIH grant, as long as your
institution has an employee/employer relationship with the student. You
should also be aware it is the responsibility of the institution to
monitor the status of the student's visa and ensure that he/she has
sufficient time to fulfill the obligations of the research they are
being paid for on the grant. These costs must be consistently treated at
your institution regardless of the source of funds so as to avoid
duplicative charges. Thank you.

Best regards,
Michelle G. Bulls
Assistant Grants Policy Officer
Division of Grants Policy
Office of Policy for Extramural Research Administration, OER, NIH, HHS
6705 Rockledge Drive, Room 3523
(301) 435-0934 direct line
(301) 435-3059 fax
E-mail: xxxxxx@nih.gov

Catharine Crea
Associate Dean for Research Administration
New York Medical College
Valhalla, New York 10595
(914) 594-4480 phone
(914) 594-4694 fax

-----Original Message-----
From: Research Administration List [mailto:xxxxxx@HRINET.ORG] On
Behalf Of Sudha Srinagesh
Sent: Tuesday, November 02, 2004 5:25 PM
To: xxxxxx@HRINET.ORG
Subject: [RESADM-L] VISA FEE

I am interested to find out if the VISA FEE can be charged to the
federal
grants, particularly, NIH, NSF and DOD grants.  I would also like to
hear
your veiws about why or why not the visa fee can be charged to these
grants.
 It would be very helpful if you can directly me to any policy that is
available on this topic.

Thank you

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 Instructions on how to use the RESADM-L Mailing List, including
 subscription information and a web-searchable archive, are available
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