USCIS Increases Filing Fees

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is increasing filing fees for many immigration applications and petitions by an average of 21% beginning on December 23, 2016. While the filing fees for some applications and petitions will remain the same, others will see significant increases.

According to the Department of Homeland Security, the fee increases reflect the current cost of processing immigration applications and petitions. The increased fees will also provide additional funding for certain programs that did not receive additional Congressional appropriations. This is the first fee increase since 2010 when USCIS increased fees by 10%.

Below are a few of the highlights of fee increases for some of the more common immigration applications and petitions:

• The Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker (I-129) will increase from $325 to $460.
• The Application for Employment Authorization (I-765) will go from $380 to $410.
• The Application for Travel Document (I-131) will increase from $360 to $575.
• The Application for Regional Center Designation under the Immigrant Investor Program will be increased from $6,230 to $17,795
• The Annual Certification of EB-5 Regional Center (Form I-924A) increases from $0 to $3,035.
• The Immigrant Petition by Alien Entrepreneur (I-526) will increase from $1,500 to $3,675.
• The Petition for Alien Relative (I-130) will increase from $420 to $535.
• The Petition for Alien Fiancé(e) (I-129F) increases from $340 to $535.
• The Application for Naturalization (Form N-400) will increase from $595 to $640 (not including the biometrics fee). However, for applicants that fall within a certain range of the federal poverty guidelines, the filing fee will be $320.
• The Application for Certificate of Citizenship (N-600) will increase from $600 to $1,170.
• The Application for Replacement Naturalization/Citizenship Document (N-565) will increase from $345 to $555.

You can find a full list of the new filing fees on the USCIS website, https://www.uscis.gov/forms/our-fees.

If you have any questions as to how these increases will impact your company, please contact an immigration professional at Fisher Phillips.