The Department of Homeland Security recently published a Final Rule in the Federal Register establishing a filing fee increase that will go into effect on April 1, 2024. The new fee schedule significantly increases several filing fees and creates cost-based incentives to file applications online rather than by mail.
A reproduction of a portion of the fee schedule appears below. It should also be noted that the Final Rule includes a new Asylum Program fee of $600 (for employers with 26 or more full-time equivalent employees) or $300 (for employers with 25 or fewer full-time equivalent employees). The Asylum Program fee applies to employers every time they file either Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker or Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker. This fee is intended to cover some of the costs associated with asylum processing, which does not include its own fee. Nonprofit petitioners are exempt from the Asylum Program Fee.
This Final Rule is separate from and in addition to the Premium Processing fee increase recently announced by USCIS, which goes into effect on February 26, 2024.
USCIS has also announced that new versions of the affected forms will go into effect on April 1 which include new questions to identify which new fees apply. While many of these forms will have a grace period during which the old versions will remain acceptable, USCIS will reject any Form I-129 and Form I-140 submissions received on or after April 1 that do not use the new version; there is no grace period for those two forms.
A select portion of the new fee schedule published by USCIS on its website includes the following:
