U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS” or the “Service”) recently announced a final rule that will (in some cases, dramatically) increase the filing fees required for most employment-based (and family-based) immigration applications and petitions filed with the Service. The new fees will become effective December 23, 2016.
According to USCIS, this is the first fee increase in six (6) years, since November 2010, necessary to “recover the full cost of services provided by USCIS”, including costs associated with fraud detection and national security, customer service and case processing, and providing services without charge to refugee and asylum applicants and to other customers eligible for fee waivers or exemptions.
The final rule contains a table summarizing current and new fees, summarized below. Under the new rule, any application or petition mailed, postmarked or otherwise filed on or after December 23, 2016 must include the new fees.
| Form | Title | Current Fee | New Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| I-129/I-129CW | Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker | $325 | $460 |
| I-131/I-131A | Application for Travel Document | $360 | $575 |
| I-140 | Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker | $580 | $700 |
| I-485
*Includes the cost of Forms I-765 and I-131 filed concurrently, but does not include $85 biometrics fee |
Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status | $985* | $1,140* |
| I-485 | Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust status (certain applicants under the age of 14 years) | $635 | $750 |
| I-526 | Immigrant Petition for Alien Entrepreneur | $1,500 | $3,675 |
| I-539 | Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status | $290 | $370 |
| I-765 | Application for Employment Authorization | $380 | $410 |
| I-90 | Application to Replace Permanent Resident Card | $365 | $455 |
| I-129F | Petition for Alien Fiancé(e) | $340 | $535 |
| I-130 | Petition for Alien Relative | $420 | $535 |
| I-751 | Petition to Remove Conditions on Residence | $505 | $595 |
| N-400 | Application for Naturalization | $595 | $640 |
If you have any questions about the filing fee increases, or about any other immigration matter, please do not hesitate to contact us.Of particular note to employers, the filing fee for Form I-129 (used in certain H, L, TN and E-3 classification requests) will increase from $325 to $460 (representing ~ 42% increase); the filing fee for Form I-140 (Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker) will increase from $580 to $700 (representing ~ 20% increase); and the filing fee for a travel document will increase from $360 to $575 (representing a ~60% increase!). We can only hope that the increase in fees will result in a reduction in processing times for employment-based petitions (e.g.; a reduction in the current 12-13 month processing time of H-1B extensions!)
Please follow us on Twitter @ML_Immigration to stay tuned for further developments.