You may have heard about the proposed rule to increase the filing fees for certain applications and petitions filed with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
The increase in filing fees would apply to many types of applications, including but not limited to, the I-485 Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, N-400 Application for Naturalization, I-129F petition for alien fiancé(e), Form I-130 Petition for Alien Relative, Form I-751 Petition to Remove Conditions on Permanent Residence, Form I-129 Petition for Nonimmigrant Worker for H, L, and O classifications, Form I-526 Immigrant Petition for the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program, Form I-765 Application for Employment Authorization, among many others.
The proposed rule also sought to do the following:
· Incorporate biometrics costs into the main benefit fee and remove the separate biometric services fee
· Require separate filing fees for Form I-131 and Form I-765 filings, even when filed with the I-485 adjustment package
Before the government can implement a proposed rule, they must abide by a mandatory notice-and-comment rule-making process. This includes offering a public comment period of at least 60 days from the date of the NPRM’s publication in the Federal Register. The government’s extended the public comment period just closed on March 13, 2023.
After the comment period closes, USCIS reviews the public comments and will take them into consideration when publishing the final fee rule in the Federal Register.
Please note that the fee increases will not be implemented until 30 days after the final rule has been published in the Federal Register, which is yet to be determined.
If you have been procrastinating on getting an attorney and filing your applications, get started right away before possible increases impact your application costs.
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