The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is planning on hiking its fees because of budget cuts.
These are huge hike increases. If approved, some of the fees will be more than doubled, while most will rise by hundreds of dollars.
The rate hike, if passed, will discourage employers from sponsoring foreigners into their organizations. It may also be a big financial burden to American citizens who seek to sponsor relatives into the country.
The USCIS has published an extensive document about the proposal, but here are the important proposed fee hikes you need to know about, as compiled by WolfsDorf:
- Application for Employment Authorization – Online, from current $410 to new $555
- Application for Employment Authorization – Paper, from current $410 to new $650
- Application for Employment Authorization – Online and Paper (with biometric services), from current $495 to new $650
- H-1B Pre-Registration Fee, from current $10 to proposed $215
- I-129 Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker: H-1 Classifications, from current $460 to proposed $780
- I-129 Petition for L Nonimmigrant Worker, from current $460 to proposed $1,385
- I-129 Petition for O Nonimmigrant Worker, from current $460 to proposed $1,055
- I-140 Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker, from current $700 to proposed $715
- H-2A Petition – Named Beneficiaries, from current $460 to proposed $1,090
- H-2A Petition – Unnamed Beneficiaries, from current $460 to proposed $530
- H-2B Petition – Named Beneficiaries, from current $460 to proposed $1,080
- H-2B Petition – Unnamed Beneficiaries, from current $460 to proposed $580
- I-526 Immigrant Petition by Standalone Investor, from current $3,675 to proposed $11,160
- Immigrant Petition by Regional Center Investor, from current $3,675 to proposed $11,160
- Application for Regional Center Designation, from current $17,795 to proposed $47,695
- I-485 Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status (with biometric services), from current $1,225 to proposed $1,540
As seen above, these proposed rate hikes cannot be taken lightly.
But the good news is it’s not final yet. The USCIS wants to hear your input on the proposals. Its 60-day public comment period will end on March 6.
To submit your comment, you can go to https://www.regulations.gov, and type “Docket No. USCIS-2021-0010” in the search bar. From there, follow the prompts to submit comments.
For more information on the rate hikes and how to beat them, consult a trusted immigration lawyer.
