On November 14, 2019, DHS published a new rule containing numerous adjustments to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ (USCIS) filing fee schedule. These proposed adjustments are in addition to other recently finalized fee rules increasing the Premium Processing Service fee by $30 and adding a $10 fee for each electronic H-1B cap registration. In this new rule, DHS is planning on an upward adjustment of USCIS fees “by a weighted average of 21 percent” among other changes.
AILA has published a searchable table of fee adjustments, located here, which shows upwards adjustments to filing fees for many commonly used forms such as N-400 for naturalization, I-485 for Adjustment of Status, I-140 for immigrant visa petitions, and I-129 for nonimmigrant visa petitions. The new rule would also remove a number of forms from fee waiver eligibility, adds a $50 fee for applying for asylum from within the United States, and would change the calculation of the 15-day premium processing service clock from calendar days to business days.
The proposed rule will not take effect until after a 30-day public comment period, followed by agency review and a 60-day finalization period. If this timeline is unchanged, the new rule will likely take effect mid-February. Public comments to the rule can be made here and viewed here.
© Jewell Stewart & Pratt PC 2019