U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has published a final rule to adjust certain immigration and naturalization benefit request fees for the first time since 2016. The new fees under the final rule will go into effect on April 1, 2024.

The final fee rule includes several important updates since the initial rulemaking. Every fee in the final rule is the same or lower than in the proposed rule. For most individual filers, the final rule limits how much newly established fees may increase.

Under the final rule, the new fees will not increase by more than 26%, which is equivalent to the increase in the Consumer Price Index since the last fee rule was issued in 2016. 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%. For forms where USCIS offers online filing, there will generally be a $50 discount for those who choose this online option over paper filing.

In 2019, a different rule (PDF) established a $10 registration fee per beneficiary for H-1B registrations. The $10 registration fee is separate from and in addition to the H-1B petition filing fee for Form I-129. The proposed $215 H-1B registration fee is based on empirical cost estimates, as anticipated in the implementing regulation.

The final rule increases EB-5 program fees consistent with the fees for other benefit requests. As explained in the final rule, the fee amounts indicated by the full cost recovery model for the immigrant investor forms are not capped or decreased below the estimated full cost recovery as with some other forms, and DHS believes that the requirements for financial wherewithal in the program are inconsistent with shifting the costs of the EB-5 program to be funded by the fees paid for other requests.

Additional changes in the final rule

Incorporating biometric services costs into the main benefit fee and removing the separate biometric services fee in most cases (Temporary Protected Status and the filings accepted on behalf of the Executive Office for Immigration Review are exceptions, where the rule proposes a separate biometric services fee of $30 instead of the current $85);

Eliminating the $30 returned check fee

Requiring 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

Establishing separate fees for Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker, by nonimmigrant classification;

Limiting the number of named beneficiaries on certain petitions for nonimmigrant workers to 25;

Revising the premium processing timeframe interpretation from calendar days to business days;

Clarifying that USCIS will not redeposit payments returned as unpayable for a reason other than insufficient funds;

Stating that fees paid to USCIS using a credit card are not subject to dispute, chargeback, forced refund, or return to the cardholder for any reason except at the discretion of USCIS;

Revising certain USCIS processes for adoptions from countries that are not party to the Hague
Adoption Convention (orphan cases) to align them with the processes for adoptions from countries that are party to that Convention;

Providing fee exemptions for adoptees filing applications for Certificates of Citizenship and naturalization based on adoption; and

Revising regulations related to genealogy searches, including establishing a fee for Form G-1566,

Request for Certificate of Non-Existence.

USCIS will accept prior editions of most forms during a grace period from April 1, 2024, through June 3, 2024. During this grace period, USCIS will accept both previous and new editions of certain forms, filed with the correct fee.

There will be no grace period for the following new forms, however, because they must be revised with a new fee calculation.

Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker;
Form I-129 CW, Petition for a CNMI-Only Nonimmigrant Transitional Worker;
Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers;
Form I-600A, Application for Advance Processing of an Orphan Petition (and supplement 1, 2 and 3); and
Form I-600, Petition to Classify Orphan as an Immediate Relative.

USCIS will use the postmark date of a filing to determine which form version and fees are correct but will use the receipt date for purposes of any regulatory or statutory filing deadlines.

The final rule will allow USCIS to recover a greater share of its operating costs and support more timely processing of new applications. The final rule is the result of a comprehensive fee review, as required by law, and follows the January 2023 publication of a notice of proposed rulemaking. The review concluded that the current fee schedule falls far short in recovering the full cost of agency operations, including the necessary expansion of humanitarian programs, federally mandated pay raises, additional staffing requirements, and other essential investments.