The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced a final rule that adjusts US Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) fees by a weighted average increase of twenty percent. The updated fees are effective October 2, 2020, and any application, petition, or request postmarked on or after this date must include payment of the new, correct fee. Since these fees fund nearly ninety-seven percent of USCIS’ budget, the agency claims the weighted increase is necessary to avoid a budget shortfall of an estimated $1 billion per year. “USCIS is required to examine incoming and outgoing expenditures and make adjustments based on that analysis,” Joseph Edlow, USCIS deputy director for policy, said. “These overdue adjustments in fees are necessary to efficiently and fairly administer our nation’s lawful immigration system, secure the homeland and protect Americans.”
The weighted fee increase accounts for “increased costs to adjudicate immigration benefit requests, detect and deter immigration fraud, and thoroughly vet applicants, petitioners and beneficiaries.” The weighted fee increase also supports USCIS’s payroll, technology, and operations costs. The agency published the complete rule which includes a table of all the fee adjustments. (AILA has also published a convenient table with the fee changes. Key adjustments include:
Fee increases for I-129 H-1B petitions from $460 to $555 (twenty-one percent increase), for I-129 O petitions from $460 to $705 (fifty-three percent increase), and for I-129 L petitions from $460 to $805 (seventy-five percent increase);
I-140 fee decreases from $700 to $555 (twenty-one percent decrease);
I-485 (adjustment of status to permanent residence) fee decreases from $1,140 to $1,130 (decrease of one percent); however, the overall cost for adjustment of status increases since applicants must file three forms now with separate fees: I-485 for adjustment of status (now $1,130), I-765 for employment authorization (now $550), and I-131 for the advance parole travel document (now $590) for a total of $2,270. Additionally, adjustment of status applicants must now pay for employment authorization ($550) and advance parole ($590) renewals, whereas previously they did not while the adjustment of status was pending;
N-400 (application for citizenship) fee increases from $640 to $1,160 for online filing (eighty-one percent increase);
Fee decreases for biometric services (non-DACA) from $85 to $30 (sixty-five percent decrease); however, biometric services for DACA cases remains at $85;
For the first time ever, there is $50 application fee for I-589 asylum applications;
Adjusted premium processing timeframe from fifteen calendar to fifteen business days, although the fee remains the same ($1,440); and
The final rule encourages online filing of available USCIS electronic forms by providing a $10 fee reduction for filing online.
The final rule also changes some USCIS forms including Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker, and Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization. Applicants and petitioners must use the new or revised form by October 2, 2020.
“The significant fee increases on employment-based immigrant and nonimmigrant petitions are nothing more than new taxes on businesses that must be paid to meet their company’s workforce needs,” Jon Baselice, executive director for immigration policy at the US Chamber of Commerce, said in an interview in Forbes. “This final rule suffers from many of the same critical flaws included in the agency’s original proposal, and given the level of concern on the part of many companies with respect to those issues the fight over this rule is far from over.”