THE Embassy of the United States in Kingston will be closed to the public today, in what is seen as a precautionary measure in the wake of the current tension in the Corporate Area sparked by gunbattles between the security forces and criminals bent on preventing the arrest of Tivoli Gardens don Christopher 'Dudus' Coke, who is facing extradition to the United States.

In a release yesterday, the embassy said "American citizens and other individuals with appointments to apply for passports, non-immigrant and immigrant visas, or other routine consular services should not come to the embassy" today.

"The Consular Section will contact these individuals to reschedule their appointments," the embassy said, adding that American citizens in Jamaica requiring emergency assistance today should contact the American Citizens Services Unit at 702-6450 or e-mail that office at KingstonACS@state.gov.

The suggestion is that the embassy is expecting normality to return to the capital city by tomorrow. Jamaican security forces yesterday entered Tivoli Gardens to flush out 'Dudus' supporters who had barricaded the community to prevent the arrest of Coke.

Just before that, the embassy announced increased visa fees, starting June 4 when it will introduce a multi-tiered system in which petition-based visas will cost more than non-petition based visas.

The additional revenue will come at a time when the number of Jamaicans applying for US non-immigrant visas has nose-dived, following fears that the embassy has been cancelling visas of certain Jamaicans, because of dissatisfaction with the drawn-out extradition process. The US has denied that it grants visas on a political basis.

The schedule for the new fees is as follows:

Non-petition-based visas

* Visitor (B1/B2) $140

* Crewmember (C1/D) $140

* Student visas (F1 and M1) $140

* Treaty Trader/Investor (E1 or E2) $390

Petition-based visas:

* Temporary skilled workers (H-1B) $150

* Temporary seasonal workers (H-2B) $150

* Intra-company transferees (L1) $150

* Performers (O and P) $150

* Fiance-based visas (K) $350

"Although the treaty trader (E1) and treaty investor (E2) visa classes are not petition-based, they will now be set at US$390. The new, higher fees for E and K visas will more accurately reflect the real cost of processing these document-intensive visa categories," the embassy said in a release last Friday.

It said applicants with interviews "scheduled for June 4 and who have already paid according to the old fee schedule will be required to return to NCB to pay the difference between the new and old fees in order for their cases to be processed."

All fees are in United States dollars.