New USCIS Filing Fees Effective April 1, 2024

On January 31, 2024, the Department of Homeland Security announced via a Final Rule that certain immigration and naturalization benefit request fees will be increased by USCIS. This rule also provides additional fee exemptions for certain humanitarian categories, and makes changes to certain other immigration benefit request requirements. USCIS determined that current fees do not recover the full cost of providing adjudication and naturalization services, and is therefore adjusting the fee schedule to fully recover costs and maintain adequate service.

This final rule also responds to public comments received on the USCIS proposed fee schedule published on January 4, 2023. See below for a table of the updated fees.

This final rule is effective April 1, 2024. Any benefit request postmarked on or after this date must be accompanied with the new fees established by this final rule.

In a move to reward electronic filings, the final rule provides a $50 discount for forms filed online with USCIS.

DHS will now add an Asylum Program Fee as "an effective way to shift some costs to requests that are generally submitted by petitioners who have more ability to pay, as opposed to shifting those costs to all other fee payers." DHS initially proposed a new Asylum Program Fee of $600 to be paid by employers who file either a Form I–129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker, or Form I–140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker. However, Businesses with 25 or fewer full-time equivalent employees will pay a $300 Asylum Program Fee instead of $600, and half of the full fee for Form I–129. The final rule defines “small employer” as having 25 or fewer full-time equivalent (FTE). See8 CFR 106.1(f).

Nonprofits will pay $0 towards the asylum fee. Nonprofit organizations may include religious, educational, or charitable organizations and may not be required to pay federal taxes. DHS determined that the most appropriate definition for nonprofit is the definition in the Internal Revenue Code (IRC), specifically 26 U.S.C. 501(c)(3) (2023).

Core elements of the final rule include the following:

For individual filers, the final rule generally limits newly established fees to no more than the increase in the Consumer Price Index since 2016, which is 26%. Many such fees will increase by well under 26%.
The final fee rule holds fee increases to a low level for naturalization and adoption applications and petitions.
The final fee rule mitigates higher fees for employer filers with special discounts for nonprofits and small employers.
The final fee rule codifies existing fee waiver eligibility for low-income and vulnerable populations and expands fee exemptions for certain humanitarian and other beneficiaries and the reduced fee option for certain individuals apply for naturalization.
For forms where USCIS offers online filing, there will generally be a $50 discount for those who choose this online option over paper filing.

Increased Premium Processing Fees

On February 26, 2024, USCIS increased premium processing fees to reflect the amount of inflation from June 2021 through June 2023 according to the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI–U). 88 FR 89539 (Dec. 28, 2023). The adjustment increases premium processing fees as follows:

From $1,500 to $1,685 (for Form I-129 requesting H-2B or R nonimmigrant classification and Form I-765 with eligibility category (C)(3)(A), (C)(3)(B), or (C)(3)(C));
From $1,750 to $1,965 (for premium processing of Form I-539 seeking change of status to F-1, F-2, M-1, M-2, J-1, or J-2 nonimmigrant status), and
From $2,500 to $2,805 (for Form I-129 requesting E-1, E-2, E-3, H-1B, H-3, L (including blanket L-1), O, P, Q, or TN nonimmigrant classification); and Form I-140 requesting EB-1, EB-2, or EB-3 immigrant visa classification.
These fees are in addition to all other filing fees required by the application or petition you are submitting. You cannot request waiver of a fee for a form for which you are requesting premium processing.

TABLE OF UPDATED FEES

For each relevant form, the following table (adapted from Table 1 of the final fee rule) compares the previously enacted fee, the fee from the January 2023 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), and the final rule fee that goes into effect on April 1, 2024.

Naturalization (N-400)

The new fee rule is consistent with this long-standing practice, as indicated in the table below. Previously, the total cost included both an application fee ($640) and a separate biometric services fee ($85), for a total of $725 for most applicants. Under the new fee rule, there is no longer a separate biometric services fee, and the total fee is $710 for online filers or $760 for paper filers.

The new fee rule also provides a reduced naturalization fee ($380) for applicants with a household income between 150% and 400% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines (FPG), expanding eligibility for this reduced fee. Under the previous fee schedule, this reduced fee was only available to applicants with a household income between 150% and 200% of the FPG.

With the new fee rule that goes into effect April 1, 2024, applicants must use the new 04/01/24 editions of the following forms:

If you are interested in learning more about the visa and Green Card applications that we prepare, schedule a complimentary 15-minute consultation with The Grady Firm’s attorneys; call +1 (949) 798-6298; or fill out a Contact Request Form.

This article is for informational purposes only, and does not constitute legal advice or create an attorney-client relationship. This article does not make any guarantees as to the outcome of a particular matter, as each matter has its own set of circumstances and must be evaluated individually by a licensed attorney