On Tuesday (31), the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published the final rule to adjust certain application fees for immigration and naturalization benefits for the first time since 2016. The final rule will allow USCIS to recover a larger share of its operational costs and support a more efficient processing of new applications.
The final rule is the result of a comprehensive review of fees, as required by law. The review concluded that the current fee schedule falls far short of recovering the total cost of agency operations, including the expansion of humanitarian programs, federally mandated salary increases, additional staffing requirements, and other essential investments.
“For the first time in more than seven years, USCIS is updating fees to better meet the needs of our agency, allowing us to provide more timely decisions to those we serve,” said USCIS Director Ur M. Jaddou.
According to the final rule, the new fees will not increase by more than 26%, which corresponds to the increase in the Consumer Price Index since the last fee rule was issued in 2016.
The new fees will take effect on April 1, 2024.
The forms required by USCIS have also been updated and will be available to the public starting on the same date. However, USCIS will accept previous editions of most forms during a grace period, from April 1, 2024, to June 3, 2024.
USCIS encourages interested individuals to visit the Frequently Asked Questions page on its website (https://www.uscis.gov/frequently-asked-questions-on-the-uscis-fee-rule) to see a complete list of the revised forms that will take effect on April 1, 2024, along with the new fees.
Here are the new fees for commonly requested services by immigrants:
– I-130 (petition for alien relative) – increases from $535.00 to $625.00
– I-485 (petition for permanent residence or adjustment of status) – increases from $1,140 to $1,440
– I-539 (petition to extend/change nonimmigrant status) – increases from $370.00 to $420.00
– N-400 (petition for naturalization with biometrics) – increases from $640.00 to $710.00
Source: USCIS