News Release from Jewell Stewart & Pratt PC The U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Service (USCIS) has adopted a new filing fee schedule. This chart lists the old and new fees side by side. The new fees become effective on December 23, 2016 and represent an increase of 21%, on average. There are increases in all the application and petition types typically filed in employment-related cases, including Forms I-129, I-539, I-140, I-485, I-131, and I-765.
USCIS warns that applications and petitions postmarked or filed on or after December 23, 2016 must include these new fees. If the new fees are not included with the submission, it will be rejected.
Government processing of immigration applications and petitions is funded by these user fees, and not by taxpayer dollars. These filing fee increases, which in some cases are significant, reflect USCIS's calculation of increases in the work associated with case adjudications.
© Jewell Stewart & Pratt PC 2016