Just after agreeing with Congress to refrain at least briefly from furloughing 70 percent of its workforce due to financial problems, USCIS has published a final rule significantly increasing its fees for most adjudication processes. Filings "postmarked" before October 2, 2020 can use the current fees, but filings postmarked on or after that date must submit the new fees.
The 576-page regulation published here lists the old and new fees for each case type at pages 13 to 17, which we have extracted here.
Some less than obvious changes include the following:
- While the fee for an adult's adjustment of status to permanent residence has slightly decreased, the concurrently filed applications for interim work and travel authorization are no longer free as before, for a net increase of $1,000 for adults. Moreover, the former reduction of $500 for a child's application is eliminated, so a child's application now costs another $1,500, and a typical family of four now costs more than $8,500.
- Naturalization applications have increased $500 to $1,170.
- Asylum applications, previously free since World War II, now cost $50, and a work card for asylum applicant costs $550.
- DACA renewal applications, spared for now by a federal court order, keep the same fee, but they must apply every year instead of every other year as before.
- Fee waivers are extremely limited, to just a few categories of applicants inherently in distress.
