DHS Update: EB-5 Fee Increases

On Monday, October 24, 2016, Department of Homeland Security published a final rule adjusting the filing fee schedule for immigration and naturalization benefits. The final rule goes into effect on December 23, 2016. All filing fees paid to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on or after December 23, 2016 will need to reflect the new fee increase.

DHS raised the filing fees by a weighted average of 21%. Many of the more popular filings will be effected such as Form I-129, Form I-140, Form I-130, Form I-765, Form I-290B, Form I-485, Form I-539, Form I-90, among others. The full schedule of fee increases for the cases effected can be found here.

The largest increases are seen for EB5 cases where the fee increases will effect both the investors filing I-526s as well as the developers and Regional Centers filing I-924s and I-924As.

The I-526 fee will increase from $1,500 to $3,675, which is a 145% increase. The I-924 fee will increase from $6,230 to $17,795, which is a 186% increase. Also, there is a new filing fee for annual I-924A filings of $3,035 where there was no filing fee previously. DHS did not increase the I-829 filing fee, which will remain $3,750.