What happened?

On January 30, 2024, the U.S. Citizenship, and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a final rule to adjust certain immigration and naturalization benefit request fees. Through this rule, the USCIS will implement substantial fee increases especially for employment-based petitions, which will take effect in 2024.

What are the details?

• To cover operational costs, the USCIS updated certain immigration and naturalization benefit request fees since 2016.

• The proposed rule was published in January 2023 and after comments review, has been published in the Federal Registry on January 31, 2024.

• Table Fee Comparison:

• For the complete comparison between the Current Fee (until April 2024), NPRM Fee (Notice of Proposed Rule Making Fee), the Final Fee, and the Current to Final Fee Difference in dollars and percentage variation see the following: Link to Table 1.

• The timeline for processing petitions will extend from 15 calendar days to 15 business days.

• Forms have also been updated. See the FAQs – Form Revisions and Deadlines for additional details.

Business Considerations

• Although a challenge to the rule is expected, you should take a proactive approach and plan your budget and timeline extensions.
• Take your time to familiarize yourself with the new mandatory forms.
• Meanwhile, take advantage of the “reduced” fees and timeline, which will last until March 31, 2024, and of the grace period for edits in some forms, from April 1, 2024, to June 30, 2024.

Resources

USCIS Issues Final Rule to Adjust Certain Immigration and Naturalization Fees (01/30/2024)

USCIS Final Rule

USCIS FAQs

Source References

USCIS Announces Significant Fee Increases Effective on April 1, 2024 (Seyfarth Shaw LLP.)

USCIS Fee Increase: What You Need to Know to Plan Your 2024 Immigration Budget (Cozen O’Connor LLP)

USCIS Issues Final Rule Increasing Filing Fees (Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C.)

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