USCIS Announces Substantial Fee Increases

By Brad J. Hendrick and Ashlyn Kahler-Rios
Attorneys

On Wednesday, January 31, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published its long-anticipated rule adjusting USCIS filing fees. The rule becomes effective for filings received at USCIS on or after April 1, 2024. This is the first significant fee increase in more than seven years, and USCIS has taken the opportunity to change fees on a variety of petitions. While some fees have actually gone down slightly, the aggregate fee increase across all categories is around 26%. 

The most significant changes with the new fees include: 

• USCIS previously charged a base application fee of $460 for most nonimmigrant visa applications. They have changed their approach, and now will charge a different base application fee depending on the class of non-immigrant visa type that is being sought. 
• Nonprofits and smaller employers, defined as those with no more than 25 full-time employees are seeing smaller increases.  
• Some non-immigrant visa application fees are increasing substantially for employers with more than 25 full-time employees including L-1 applications moving from $460 to $1,385, H-1 applications moving from $460 to $780 and O-1 applications moving from $460 to $1,055. 
• H-1B lottery entries will change from $10 to $215, but that fee change will not be effective for the lottery to be held in March 2024. The new H-1B application fees will, however, be applied to any H-1B application selected in this year’s lottery. 
• Adjustment of Status application fees will increase slightly but will no longer include applications for Employment Authorization Documents and Advance Parole for no additional fee. USCIS will now charge an additional $260 for an Employment Authorization and an additional $630 for an Advance Parole document and will charge these same filing fees for renewals. These fees and renewal fees only apply to applications filed on or after April 1, 2024.  
• Many employment based filings will require an “asylum program fee” ranging from $300 to $600 in addition to the application fees.
• Certain applications allow for a smaller filing fee when filed online. 

We do expect to receive some additional clarifications and information in the coming weeks. If you are eligible for a renewal or have been contemplating an application, please contact us as soon as possible to discuss options before fees increase in April.