Department of Homeland Security (DHS) today issued an advance copy of the final rule to increase certain government filing fees. USCIS will publish the final rule in the Federal Register on September 24, 2010. The advance copy does not provide an effective date.
Not all fees will increase, but the majority of fees have been increased "by a weighted average of 10 percent." USCIS also added three new fee categories for Regional Center Designation under Immigrant Investor Pilot Program, Civil Surgeon Designation, and Department of Homeland Security Processing of Immigrant Visa requests. The final rule "finalizes the interim rule that established the premium processing service and fees," but also increases the premium processing filing fee for inflation from $1000 to $1225. For selected applications or petitions, an applicant or petitioner may file a premium processing fee to expedite the process and require that the government respond to the petition or application within 15 calendar days.
DHS explains in the final rule that the increase in fees comes as the result of a comprehensive review of costs related to processing and the conclusion that the current fees do not properly cover the true cost of processing. For example, the fee for travel documents for asylees and refugees was decreased from $305 to $135. The Naturalization Application fee remains the same, $595, although the accompanying biometric fee has increased to $85, for a total of $680 to file a Form N-400 Application for Naturalization, if the applicant is not an armed services veteran.
Other changes to common benefits include an increase in fees for Form I-485 Application to Adjust Status from $930 to $985, plus the increased biometric fee, for a total of $1070. Form I-130 Petitions for Alien Relatives have increased from $355 to $420. Form I-129 Petitions for Nonimmigrant Workers, which include H-1Bs, L-1s, and O & P nonimmigrant status, has increased from $32o to $325.
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