by Jesse Young

USCIS has announced that on April 1st it will be raising filing fees for the first time in several years. For most application types this means an increase of several hundred dollars. However, while prices overall have gone up, the good news is that many case types are now eligible for fee exemption, including the VAWA, T-Visa and U-Visa cases that we specialize in here at Eagan.

That means, for these types of applications filed after April 1, applicants will pay zero dollars in filing fees. Want to know more?  Read on for a quick overview of USCIS filing fees and the changes coming next month (or skip to the bottom if you just want to read about the new fee exemptions). Let’s start by answering some common questions.

What are USCIS Filing Fees?

Most USCIS applications require a filing fee, which usually costs hundreds of dollars. These fees are typically required to be submitted along with the relevant forms when applying for immigration benefits. The fees vary depending on the type of application or petition being filed.

To give an example of how these actually work, someone who applied in 2023 to adjust their immigration status via their spouse could expect to pay $1,760 in filing fees: $535 for Form I-130 (Petition for Alien Relative), $1,140 for Form I-485 (Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status), plus an $85 biometrics fee (for when you go to get your fingerprints taken).

Under the new filing fee schedule to take effect April 1^st, this same applicant will now have to pay $2,115: $675 for Form I-130 and $1,440 for Form I-485 (the new fees all include the price of biometrics).

Why does USCIS need to change its filing fees?

USCIS, unlike most federal agencies, is almost entirely fee-funded, meaning that most of its operational costs come from filing fees, rather than congressional appropriations. According to USCIS, the fee schedule from 2016 no longer covers the operational costs of adjudicating the millions of applications USCIS receives each year, leading to backlogs and long wait times for applicants. So, while it’s a pain that fees are going up, this should mean less time between when you file and when you get a decision.

When was the last time USCIS changed its filing fees?

The last new USCISfee rule went into effect more than seven years ago, on Dec. 23, 2016. In the years since then USCIS has attempted to raise filing fees once, in 2020. That year, however, widespread opposition and legal challenges prevented the new fee schedule from ever going into effect.

How much are filing fees going to go up?

The final rule announced January 30 limits the fee increase to no more than 26%. Note that all new fees include the price of biometrics (formerly $85), so the effective price increase is significantly less than 26%.

See below for a table of the changes in price of some of the most common application types:

*Biometrics fee included

See here for the full list of new filing fees.

Fee Exemptions

Now for the good news: while the cost of most immigration applications has gone up, other applications that are classified as humanitarian are now fee exempt. These humanitarian applicants include:

• Victims of abuse applying under the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)
• Victims of trafficking (T-Visa)
• Victims of crime (U-Visa)
• Special Immigrant Juveniles

We hope you have read our previous blog posts explaining why you might be surprised to find out you qualify for one of these categories (if not, click the links above). Should you qualify, you will now be exempt from paying the cost of the primary application, as well as all the related applications, such as work authorization, that are usually included when applying for one of these categories.

To better explain the fee exemption, let’s consider VAWA. Our typical VAWA client in 2023 submitted four forms:

• I-360, Application for Special Immigrant Status
• I-485
• I-765
• I-131 (travel permit)

While the I-360 has no filing fee, as we saw above, the 2023 filing fee for the I-485, I-765 and I-131 (plus the cost of biometrics) was $1,225. After April 1, however, this client is exempt from paying filing fees for any of these forms. Better still, when it comes to time to renew their I-765 (work permit), they will not pay a filing fee for the renewal either.

Likewise, applicants for other humanitarian immigration benefits, like T-Visa and U-Visa, will not pay the filing fee for adjustment of status or work/travel authorization.

If you have any additional questions or if you’re interested in exploring pathways to citizenship in the United States, the expert attorneys at Eagan Immigration are here to help. Reach out to an immigration specialist today at 202-709-6439 for a free phone evaluation.