U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a final rule to adjust certain immigration and naturalization filing fees. The new fees under the final rule will go into effect on April 1, 2024. As USCIS is almost entirely fee-funded, the updated fee schedule is meant to enable the agency to provide more timely processing of new applications, allow for the necessary expansion of humanitarian programs, and allow for federally mandated pay raises and staffing requirements.
USCIS also announced that along with the new fees, several revised forms will go into effect on April 1, 2024. Current editions of most forms will be accepted during a grace period from April 1, 2024 until June 3, 2024. There will be no grace period, however, for the following forms as they must be revised with a new fee calculation:
- Form I-129, Petition for Nonimmigrant Worker;
- Form I-129CW, Petition for a CNMI-Only Nonimmigrant Transitional Worker;
- Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker;
- Form I-600A, Application for Advance Processing of an Orphan Petition; and
- Form I-600, Petition to Classify Orphan as an Immediate Relative.
USCIS will use the postmark date of a filing to determine which fees and form versions are correct, while using the received date for filing deadlines purposes. A chart outlining the new fees compared to the current fees, along with answers to several frequently asked questions (FAQs) can be accessed on the USCIS FAQ page for the fee rule.