12/23/16 Beginning Date For New USCIS Fees - Don't Forget The Biometrics
by Alan Lee, Esq.
In less than 2 weeks, new fees come into effect unless there is a miraculous postponement of such. Lacking the miracle, readers should remember that petitions or applications that reach U.S.C.I.S. on Friday, 12/23/16, must have the new enhanced fees. The agency does not have the mailbox rule, by which petitions or applications only need to be posted in the mail the day before to preserve the present fee. In its newest fee chart accessible at www.uscis.gov/forms/our-fees, U.S.C.I.S. makes clear that “Applications and petitions postmarked or filed on or after December 23, 2016, must include these new fees or U.S.C.I.S. will reject your submission.” In defending itself for raising fees, it notes that “The fee schedule was last adjusted in November 2010.” It should be noted that some of the fee increases are stunning, especially for EB-5 immigrant entrepreneur related cases and waiver applications (I-526 immigrant petitions from $1500 to $3675, I-924 applications to be designated as a regional center from $6230 to $17,795, I-924A annual certification of a regional center from no fee to $3035, and both I-601 application for waiver of ground of excludability and I-612 application for waiver of the foreign residence requirement from $585 to $930).
Attached is a non-comprehensive rundown of most U.S.C.I.S. fees beginning 12/23/16 with biometrics that we find useful posting in our office, and that we hope will help readers in submitting correct fees:
Most USCIS Fees Beginning 12/23/2016 (with Biometrics)
New Old
Fee Fee
I–90 Application to Replace Permanent Resident Card |
540 |
450 |
I–102 Application for Replacement/Initial Nonimmigrant Arrival-Departure Document |
445 |
330 |
I–129/129CW Petition for a Nonimmigrant worker |
460 |
325 |
I–129F Petition for Alien Fiancé(e) |
535 |
340 |
I-130 Petition for Alien Relative |
535 |
420 |
I-131/I-131A Application for Travel Document |
660 |
445 |
I–140 Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker |
700 |
580 |
I-212 Application for Permission to Reapply for Admission into the U.S. After Deportation or Removal |
930 |
585 |
I–290B Notice of Appeal or Motion |
675 |
630 |
I–360 Petition for Amerasian Widow(er) or Special Immigrant |
435 |
405 |
I–485 Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status |
1,225 |
1,070 |
I-485 Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status (certain applicants under the age of 14 years) |
750 |
635 |
I–526 Immigrant Petition by Alien Entrepreneur |
3,675 |
1,500 |
I–539 Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status |
370 |
290 |
I–600/600A Petition to Classify Orphan as an Immediate Relative/Application for Advance Petition Processing of Orphan Petition |
860 |
805 |
I-601 Application for Waiver of Ground of Excludability |
930 |
585 |
I–601A Application for Provisional Unlawful Presence Waiver |
715 |
670 |
I-612 Application for Waiver of the Foreign Residence Requirement (Under Section 212(e) of the INA, as Amended) |
930 |
585 |
I–751 Petition to Remove Conditions on Residence |
680 |
590 |
I–765 Application for Employment Authorization |
410 |
380 |
I–824 Application for Action on an Approved Application or Petition |
465 |
405 |
I–829 Petition by Entrepreneur to Remove Conditions |
3,835 |
3,835 |
I–924 Application for Regional Center Designation Under the Immigrant |
17,795 |
6,230 |
I–924A Annual Certification of Regional Center |
3,035 |
0 |
I–929 Petition for Qualifying Family Member of a U–1 Nonimmigrant |
230 |
215 |
N–300 Application to File Declaration of Intention |
270 |
250 |
N–336 Request for Hearing on a Decision in Naturalization Proceedings |
700 |
650 |
N–400 Application for Naturalization |
725 |
680 |
N–470 Application to Preserve Residence for Naturalization Purposes |
355 |
330 |
N–565 Application for Replacement Naturalization/Citizenship Document |
555 |
345 |
N–600/N–600K Application for Certificate of Citizenship |
1,170 |
600/550 |
USCIS Immigrant Fee |
220 |
165 |
Biometric Services Fee |
85 |
85 |
The rise in fees is certain to cause hardships to many petitioners and applicants seeking benefits from U.S.C.I.S. The agency can point out that it has been a pay-as-you-go entity for a long time and is funded by the fees that it receives. Nevertheless the shock is always there, even to immigration attorneys who see that a number of the filing fees exceed their legal fees. A long time ago in the far and distant land of 1982 USA, fees charged by the agency (at that time legacy INS) were $5 for an I-102, $20 for form I-212, $15 for form I-129B, $15 for form I-129F, $10 for form I-130, $5 for form I-539, $25 for form I-140, and $30 for form I-485, etc. Although U.S.C.I.S. can say that it was not a fee-based agency at that time – WOW! to the numbers. To say that U.S.C.I.S. fees have greatly outstripped inflation is an understatement indeed!
This article © 2016 Alan Lee, Esq. Reprinted with permission.
About The Author
Alan Lee, Esq. the author is an exclusive practitioner of immigration law based in New York City with an AV preeminent rating in the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory for 20+ years, registered in the Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers, on the New York Super Lawyers list (2011-12, 2013-14, 2014-2015), and recognized as a New York Area Top Rated Lawyer. He has written extensively on immigration over the past years for Interpreter Releases, Immigration Daily, and the ethnic newspapers, World Journal, Sing Tao, Epoch Times, Pakistan Calling, Muhasba and OCS; testified as an expert on immigration in civil court proceedings; and is a regular contributor to Martindale-Hubbell's Ask-a-Lawyer program. His article, "The Bush Temporary Worker Proposal and Comparative Pending Legislation: an Analysis" was Interpreter Releases' cover display article at the American Immigration Lawyers Association annual conference in 2004; his 2004 case in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, Firstland International v. INS, successfully challenged Legacy INS' policy of over 40 years of revoking approved immigrant visa petitions under a nebulous standard of proof, although its central holding that the government had to notify approved immigrant petition holders of the revocation prior to the their departure to the U. S. for the petition to be able to be revoked was short-lived as it was specifically targeted in the Intelligence Reform Act of 2004 (which in response changed the language of the revocation statute itself). Yet Firstland lives on as precedent that the government must comply with nondiscretionary duties established in law, and such failure is reviewable in federal courts. His 2015 case, Matter of Leacheng International, Inc., with the Administrative Appeals Office of USCIS (AAO) set nation-wide standards on the definition of "doing business" for multinational executives and managers to gain immigration benefits.