Breaking News Alert: New USCIS Fees Rule

USCIS Fee Rule Update

January 31, 2024

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On January 31, 2024, USCIS issued a new Fee Schedule designed to generate an additional $1.14 billion per year to support current and projected workloads and avoid backlog accumulation. The new fees under the final rule will go into effect on April 1, 2024. For more information see USCIS' page on FAQ on the fee rule. The updated filing fees are as follows:

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*Additionally, the final rule implemented a new Asylum Program Fee for employers filing the following forms:

• I-129 Petition for Nonimmigrant Workers

• I-140 Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers

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For employers with more than 25 full-time equivalent employees, the fee will be $600. For employers with 25 or fewer full-time equivalent employees, the fee will be $300. Nonprofit petitioners are exempt from the fee.

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**To claim the “Small Employer” Filing Fee reduction, USCIS requires page 1 of the most recently filed federal quarterly tax return (941) to prove eligibility.

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Preliminary Injunction Issued Halting Implementation of USCIS Fee Rule

September 30, 2020

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U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California Issues a Preliminary Injunction Halting Implementation of USCIS Fee Rule.

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The court stated that:

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1.  Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. section 705 the Court STAYS implementation and the effective date of of USCIS Immigration Fee Schedule and Changes to Certain Other Immigration Benefit Request Requirements, 85 Fed. Reg. 46,788 (Aug. 3, 2020) (the “Final Rule”) in its entirety pending final adjudication of this matter.

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2.  Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 65, Defendants Wolf, in his official capacity under the title of Acting Secretary of DHS; Cuccinelli, in his official capacity under the title of Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Deputy Secretary of DHS; DHS; and USCIS, and all persons acting under their direction, ARE ENJOINED from implementing or enforcing the Final Rule or any portion thereof.

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3.  This preliminary injunction and stay shall take effect immediately and shall remain in effect pending trial in this action or further of this Court.

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New USCIS Fee Rule Goes Into Effect October 2, 2020

September, 2020

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On August 3, 2020, USCIS published a final rule that significantly increases immigration filing fees by an overall weighted average of 20%. The rule, which goes into effect on October 2, 2020, adds new fees for certain immigration filings, establishes individual fees for temporary worker filings, alters premium processing timeframes, creates new mandatory immigration forms, removes certain fee exemptions, changes fee waiver requirements, and changes the delivery requirements for secure documents. Any application or petition postmarked on or after October 2, 2020, must be accompanied with the fees set forth in the final rule.

 

What will change under the New USCIS Fee Rule?

 

Premium Processing: The final rule lengthens the timeframe for USCIS to take an adjudicative action on Premium Processing filings from 15 calendar days to 15 business days. Read our Premium Processing News Flash for details.

 

Employment-Based Immigration: The final rule creates separate fees and forms for each nonimmigrant (temporary) classification, with fees increasing as much as 75% for certain petition filings.

 

Green Card (“Adjustment of Status”) Applications: The reduced filing fee for children under the age of 14 filing with a parent has been eliminated, so a standard fee of $1,130 will apply to all applicants. Additionally, while the filing fees for employment or family immigrant (permanent) petitions have not increased, separate fees have been added for work authorization ($550) and travel authorization ($590) applications filed in connection with Green Card applications, more than doubling the total cost of filing a Green Card application package to $2,270.

 

Naturalization for U.S. Citizenship: The filing fee for a Naturalization application to become a U.S. Citizen has increased 83% from $640 to $1,170.

 

Fee Waivers: Fee waivers are limited to filings for which USCIS is required by law to consider the request or where the USCIS Director exercises favorable discretion as provided in the regulation.

 

Secure Document Delivery: USCIS will only send secure identification documents (Green Cards, work and travel authorization cards, etc.) to applicants unless they expressly consent to having a document sent to their attorney. Attorneys will be required to provide identification and a signature to receive a secure document.

 

The specific filing fee changes that pertain to the types of cases that our office handles are listed below:

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