USCS Raising Fees
USCIS just released a proposed rule that would increase most fees for USCIS benefits, some by quite a bit. I will go through some of the proposals below.
I-485: Adjustment of Status
Currently, there is a general fee for the I-485 that covers filing the I-485, and the filing of the I-765 and I-131 applications. Added to this is a fee for biometrics. The I-140 fee is $1140 and the biometrics fee is $85. The total fee is $1225, which is reduced to $750 for children under 14 who file with a parent.
The new proposed fee would be $1120 for the I-485 (including the biometrics fee. However, the I-765 and the I-131 would no longer be included in the filing fee. So those needing the I-765 and I-131 would have to pay an additional $490 (up from $410) and $585 (up from $575), raising the total fee to $2195. In addition, any need for a renewal of the I-765 and/or I-131 would require another payment of $490 and $585, raising the total fees for a pending I-485 much higher than today. In addition, there would be no discount in fees for those under the age of 14 filing with a parent.
I-129: Temporary Petition for Foreign Workers
Currently, all applicatons that require the use of this form, file the same form – the I-129, and attach various addendums as needed. The filing fee for the I-126 is $460 and there are various other fees for certain applications that USCIS has no control over (fraud prevention fee, training fee, etc.).
USCIS has proposed making separate forms for each visa type (or group type) and having a separate filing fee for each group. There will be a separate form for E and TN visas, H-1B visas, H-2A visas, H-2B visas, L Visas, O visas, CNMI petitions, and one for H-3, P, Q or R visas. The proposed fees are as follows: E and TN application, CNMI Application and H-3, P, Q and R Application: $705; H-1: $560; O Application: $715; L Application: $815; H-2A Application: $860 (named), and $425 (unnamed); H-2B: $725 (named), $395 (unnamed). As can be seen, the increase is anywhere fro about $100 to almost $400.
I-907: Premium Processing Fee
The current fee for this service is $1410. In return, USCIS will adjudicate the application within 15 calendar days. The proposal would increase the fee to $1440 AND change the counting of the 15 days to 15 calendar days.
N-400 and N-600: Naturalization
The current fee for the N-400 is $640 and the current fee for the N-600 is $1170. Under the new proposal, the N-400 fee would rise to $1170 and the fee for the N-600 would be $1015. That would be over an 80% increase in the N-400 fee and a drop of about 13%.
I-140: Petition for Foreign Worker
The currnet fee for this application is $700. The proposal would cut this fee to $545.
Asylum and DACA
Asylum and DACA have both had no filing fee for the actual application. The proposal adds a $50 fee to file for Asylum and a fee of $275 for DACA applications.
The above is not exhaustive. If you would like to see all the fee changes and USCIS’ justifcations, please click here.
Please remember this blog does not attempt to provide legal advice or to analyze any specific case. If you need legal advice, ask a lawyer, not a blog. Thank you.