USCIS announces increase in filing fees

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published 26 September 2005

On September 26, 2005, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced a revised fee structure for immigration benefits. The new fees will become effective on October 26, 2005 and will add an average of $10 to each application and petition. This increase is being attributed to inflation. Fees collected from persons filing immigration benefit applications and petitions are used to fund the full cost of providing immigration benefits, including the full cost of providing benefits such as asylum and refugee admission for which no fee is charged.

"USCIS is committed to delivering world class customer service," said acting USCIS Deputy Director Robert Divine. "Because USCIS is a fee-based agency, we must charge amounts that will recover the full costs of our operations in order to continue the progress we have made in reducing the backlog. USCIS has already reduced its backlog from 3.9 million to 1.1 million cases."

Immigration fees were last adjusted in April 2004. Those increases were done to account for additional security enhancements performed on all immigration benefits after September 11, 2001 and other costs. The table below summarizes the most frequently used petitions and applications for employment based cases and the new fee structure:

New USCIS Immigration Benefit Application Fees

Form No.	Title	Current Fee	Revised Fee	Notes
I-129	Petitions for a Nonimmigrant Worker	$185	$190	For employers to petition for a nonimmigrant to come to the United States temporarily to perform services or labor, or to receive training.
I-140	Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker	$190	$195	To classify status on the basis of profession or occupation for an immigrant visa.
New USCIS Immigration Benefit Application Fees
I-485	Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status	$315	$325	For filing an application for permanent resident status or creation of a record of lawful permanent residence commonly known as the "Green Card" --$325 for an applicant 14 years of age or older; $225 for an applicant under the age of 14 years; no fee for an applicant filing as a refugee under section 209(a) of the Act.
I-539	Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status	$195	$200	Form used by some nonimmigrants to request extensions of stay or changes from one nonimmigrant category to another.
New USCIS Immigration Benefit Application Fees
I-765	Application for Employment Authorization	$175	$180	Application for a work permit.
New USCIS Immigration Benefit Application Fees
N-400	Application for Naturalization	$320	$330	Application for permanent resident to become a US citizen (other than such application filed on or after October 1, 2004, by an applicant who meets the requirements of sections 328 or 329 of the Act with respect to military service, for which no fee is charged).
Biometric Services		$70	$70	Additional fee for those applications that require the capturing of biometric information (also known as fingerprinting service fee).