The Department of Homeland Security published a final rule Jan. 31 adjusting the filing fees for applications for immigration benefits submitted to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). For most application types — and particularly for most employment-based requests — the fees will increase, in some cases substantially. The new fees will go into effect on April 1 unless implementation is delayed or otherwise impacted due to legal challenges.

Notable Changes

The most notable changes in the fee structure for common employment-based immigration filings include:

• All Form I-129 (for nonimmigrant workers) and Form I-140 (for immigrant workers) petitions will carry an additional $600 fee to fund USCIS’s asylum programs, unless the petitioner is a “small employer” (with 25 or fewer full-time employees), which are subject to a $300 fee, or a nonprofit, which are exempt from this fee.
• For petitions for H-1B workers in “specialty occupations,” the base Form I-129 filing fee will increase from $460 to $780 for many employers. For small and nonprofit employers, the fee will remain $460.
• The fee to register beneficiaries in the H-1B lottery will increase from $10 to $215 per individual registration. Note that, because this fee increase is effective on April 1 it will not impact this year’s H-1B lottery, the registration window for which will be March 6–22.
• For petitions for L-1 intracompany transferees, the base Form I-129 filing fee will increase from $460 to $1,385 or, for small and nonprofit employers, $695.
• For O-1 workers with “extraordinary ability,” the base Form I-129 filing fee will increase from $460 to $1,055 or, for small and nonprofit employers, $530.
• For other Form I-129 petitions for various nonimmigrant visa classifications — including E, P, Q, R, or TN — the base Form I-129 filing fee will increase from $460 to $1,015 or, for small and nonprofit employers, $510.
• For I-140 immigrant petitions for employment-based green cards, the base filing fee will increase from $700 to $715.
• For Form I-485, Applications to Adjust Status, the filing fee will increase from $1,225 to $1,440, and from $750 to $950 for applicants under 14 years of age. More notably, however, applications for employment authorization (Form I-765) and travel authorization (Form I-131) filed concurrently with Form I-485 will no longer be fee-exempt. The fees will now be $260 for Form I-765 and $630 for Form I-131, for most applicants.
• For application types that allow for online filing, including H-1B petitions and Form I-765 applications for employment authorization, filing fees are discounted $50 when filed online.
• The timeframes for premium processing — the fee for which is increasing from $2,500 to $2,805 for most employment-based cases effective Feb. 26 — will be measured in business days rather than calendar days.

Impact of Changes

To illustrate the extent of these fee changes on common employment-based filings, consider the following examples:

Initial H-1B petition by a for-profit employer with more than 25 employees:

Initial L-1 petition by a for-profit employer with more than 25 employees:

This article only summarizes the fee increases for several common types of employment-based immigration filings. Different or additional fee changes may apply to specific cases depending on specific circumstances and application types. Both employers and their foreign national workers should be aware of and plan for these fee hikes and, whenever possible, file immigration requests before new filing fees take effect.

Opinions and conclusions in this post are solely those of the author unless otherwise indicated. The information contained in this blog is general in nature and is not offered and cannot be considered as legal advice for any particular situation. The author has provided the links referenced above for information purposes only and by doing so, does not adopt or incorporate the contents. Any federal tax advice provided in this communication is not intended or written by the author to be used, and cannot be used by the recipient, for the purpose of avoiding penalties which may be imposed on the recipient by the IRS. Please contact the author if you would like to receive written advice in a format which complies with IRS rules and may be relied upon to avoid penalties.

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