The United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) has released an advanced copy of a final rule which will be published in the Federal Register on Monday, August 3, 2020, and would take effect starting on October 2, 2020. The new rule will be increasing the filing fees for most immigration filings.
We have included a summary chart outlining the new fees for the most common employment-based visa filings. The most significant change is that, rather than having one uniform fee for all nonimmigrant visas filed on Form I-129 (including L-1, H-1, O-1, TN, etc.), USCIS has now assigned different fees to different visa types. In addition, USCIS is now requiring applicants to pay the filings fees for the ancillary applications for work and travel permits submitted with adjustment of status applications. Since 2007, USCIS has not charged a fee for these applications when they are submitted in connection with an application for adjustment of status and now appears to be reversing this practice. The inclusion of these fees will increase the cost of submitting an adjustment of status application by over $1,000.
Finally, in addition to adjusting USCIS’s filing fees, the final rule also alters premium processing time limit from 15 calendar days to 15 business days.
D&S will continue to monitor the final rule prior to its October 2nd implementation and advise of any changes prior to that date.