USCIS Proposes Increased Government Filing Fees
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has proposed an increase in most of its government filing fees due to significant budgetary shortfalls. USCIS also plans to change the premium processing time from 15 calendar days to 15 business days.
Below is a table with the specific updates for 1) Temporary Worker Petitions, 2) Permanent Residence Processing and Interim Benefits, 3) Naturalization, and 4) Premium Processing. A complete list of all benefits and proposed fees is available at Table 1 of the proposed rule.
Temporary Worker Petitions
The base filing fee for the Form I-129, Petition for Nonimmigrant Worker, which covers classifications such as the E, H, L, O, and TN, will differ depending on the type of worker being sponsored. Currently, there is one base filing fee for all the different types of nonimmigrant workers. As you can see below, most of the proposed filing fees for temporary worker petitions are more than doubling.
Permanent Residence Processing and Interim Benefits
USCIS will start charging separate filing fees for work authorization and travel permission if these benefits are requested with an application to adjust status (Form I-485). Currently, USCIS charges one fee of $1,140 plus $85 for biometrics, totaling $1,225, for an adjustment of status application, and there is no additional fee for requesting interim work and travel permission. USCIS believes that separating out the requests for interim benefits will result in more revenue and ensure that individuals pay for the services they actually need. It has eliminated the separate biometrics fee.
The proposed fee for an application to adjust status with the applications for interim work and travel permission is $2,820 (!). Combining that with the fees for the I-130, Petition for Alien Worker, or I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker, the total government filings for a green card application will be around $3,500.
Another dramatic increase is for the Form I-526, EB-5 Investor Petitions, where the filing fees have increased by over 200%.
USCIS also has eliminated the lower filing fees for applicants under the age of 14. The same fee applies for an application to adjust status regardless of the applicant’s age.
Naturalization
The naturalization application fee has been modestly raised to $760 from the current fee of $725 ($640 application fee and $85 biometrics fee).
Premium Processing
USCIS is changing the premium processing time to 15 business days instead of calendar days for multiple reasons. In the past, USCIS has been unable to accomplish the required 15-day response due to the high volume of incoming petitions and a significant surge in premium processing requests. According to USCIS, the current time frame does not account for federal holidays or harsh weather when employees cannot come to work. USCIS does not plan on increasing the $2,500 premium processing fee at this time. It also will keep the $1,500 Premium Processing fee for H-2B and R petitions at $1,500.
When Will These Fees Go Into Effect?
USCIS has provided a 60-day window for the public to submit written comments on its proposed fees, which will end on March 6, 2023. After that, USCIS will review all the comments and present a final rule with the new fees. How long USCIS will take to finalize the fees depends on the number and substance of the comments received.
If you would like to make a comment on the proposed fees, you can do so here.
Earlier this week on Wednesday, January 11, USCIS held a public engagement session to explain the reasons for the proposed increases and to listen to public comments. USCIS explained that it relied heavily on government filing fees to fund its operations and had not raised its fees since 2016. The last time it had proposed raising fees in 2019, it received 43,108 comments with a vast majority opposing all or part of the proposed fees as having negative effects on applicants, the economy, and employers. This time around, USCIS is not imposing a filing fee on asylum applicants and has not significantly increased the fees for naturalization. However, as many of the participants on the public engagement session expressed, the government filing fees for permanent residence could be prohibitive for lower income and vulnerable populations. Furthermore, there were no assurances from USCIS that the increased fees would translate into improved processing times. On the contrary, USCIS justified these increases to support the expanding number of humanitarian programs it has been implementing to deal with the migration surges at the southern border.
We will continue to monitor the situation and update you as soon as we have more information.
For the most up-to-date fee information on correct filing and biometric services fees, I recommend visiting the USCIS Fee Calculator. This update is for informational purposes only. Please contact me if you would like to discuss these changes.