A new DHS fee schedule, slated to take effect on October 2, 2020, will increase costs for most petitioners and applicants, and will impose new filing fees and fee requirements for many case types, according to a final rule published in the Federal Register on August 3, 2020. The revised fee schedule and structure was initially revealed in a proposed regulation published in November 2019. The final rule makes few changes to the initial plan.
Under the final rule, total filing fees for adjustment applications (green card applications) and related benefits will nearly double, as will fees for naturalization. Employers petitioning for nonimmigrant employees would be subject to fee increases of up to 75%, depending on the nonimmigrant classification sought. With some case types, including naturalization applications and requests to replace or extend green card, a $10 discount will be offered to those that opt to file applications online instead of by mail.
In addition to fee increases, the final rule increases the premium processing timeline to almost three weeks, from 15 calendar days, imposes new fees and/or additional fees on asylum and DACA applicants, and requires employers with a high proportion of H-1B and L-1 employees to make additional border security fee payments when petitioning for these employees.
The new rule comes as USCIS is seeking from Congress $1.2 billion in emergency funding to make up budget shortfalls due to a significant decrease in case filing volume, despite that USCIS will actually end the year with a budget surplus. The agency – which is largely funded by filing fees – has indicated that, without additional monies from Congress, it would need to furlough more than 13,000 members of its workforce; furloughs had been planned for August 3, 2020, but have been postponed until August 31, 2020. If the furloughs are implemented, USCIS case processing is likely to be slowed significantly.