USCIS Implementing Sweeping Increases in Government Filing Fees
On January 30, 2024, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a final rule substantially increasing virtually all immigration and naturalization filing fees. The new USCIS fee schedule (available here) will apply to USCIS petitions and applications postmarked April 1, 2024 or later.
Some of the changes in the final rule include:
- The new rule lengthens the premium processing timeline from calendar days to business days.
- The new rule establishes separate fees for Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker, by nonimmigrant classification (i.e., different filing fees for H-1B, L-1, O-1, etc. petitions). It also applies different fees for I-129s filed by nonprofits and small employers (25 or fewer employees).
- Forms I-129 and Forms I-140 will be subject to an additional Asylum Program Fee of $600, which is intended to offset costs of administering the asylum program and mitigate filing fee increases for individual applicants and petitioners.
- Nonprofit petitioners will be exempt from the Asylum Program Fee, and small employers will be subject to a reduced fee of $300.
- Some petitions that include multiple beneficiaries (H–1C, H–2A, H–2B, H–3, O-2, P-1, etc.) will be limited to 25 named beneficiaries.
- The new rule will “unbundle” and require separate filing fees for Form I-485 (adjustment of status), Form I-131 (travel document), and Form I-765 (employment authorization), whether or not they are filed together.
- Forms filed online (when online filing is available) will generally be subject to a $50 filing fee discount.
The below table outlines some of the fee changes. For a full list of fee changes, please see USCIS' website. Please note that this table only covers petition filing fees and does not include additional fees (i.e., the Asylum Program Fee, Fraud Prevention Fee, Training Fee).
|
Type of Form |
Old Fee |
New Fee |
Percent Change |
|
I-129 H-1B* |
$460 |
$780 |
70% |
|
I-129 H-1B (small employers and nonprofits)* |
$460 |
$460 |
0% |
|
I-129 Petition for L Nonimmigrant workers |
$460 |
$1,385 |
201% |
|
I-129 Petition for L Nonimmigrant workers (small employers and nonprofits) |
$460 |
$695 |
51% |
|
I-129 Petition for O Nonimmigrant workers |
$460 |
$1,055 |
129% |
|
I-129 Petition for O Nonimmigrant workers (small employers and nonprofits) |
$460 |
$530 |
15% |
|
I-129 Petition for Nonimmigrant Worker: E, H-3, P, Q, R, or TN Classifications |
$460 |
$1,015 |
121% |
|
I-129 Petition for Nonimmigrant Worker: E, H-3, P, Q, R, or TN Classifications (small employers and nonprofits) |
$460 |
$510 |
11% |
|
I-130 Petition for Alien Relative* |
$535 |
$675 |
26% |
|
I-140 Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers |
$700 |
$715 |
2% |
|
I-485 Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status |
$1,140 |
$1,440 |
26% |
|
I-539 Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status* |
$370 |
$470 |
27% |
|
I-765 Application for Employment Authorization* |
$495 |
$520 |
27% |
*Online filing and a discount of $50 may be available for these petitions and applications.
The new fees represent substantial changes to the current USCIS fee structure, and we encourage clients to budget accordingly. As approximately 96% of USCIS’ funding is derived from filing fees, USCIS has announced that the new fee schedule is aimed to increase revenue and enable USCIS to improve customer experience and case processing time.