USCIS Proposes To Increase Fees On Forms I-90, N-400 and Other Forms

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has proposed to increase the form filing fees for certain immigration applications and petitions. The agency is now accepting comments from the public on the proposed fee increase.

USCIS is an agency that operates from the form filing fee it receives and not fully from federal funding. The agency’s most recent fee review shows that USCIS has to increase the average fee by 21 percent to recover its operating costs. USCIS claims that it will have to face a shortfall of $560 million if it doesn’t increase the fee.

Form I-90, Application to Replace Permanent Resident Card, Form N-400, Application for Naturalization, Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker and Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker, are some notable forms that will see an increase in the form filing fees. The form filing fee for the green card renewal application, Form I-90 will be raised from $365 to $455. Similarly, the standard fee for N-400 will be raised from $595 to $640. The agency is looking to establish a three-level fee tier for Form N-400. Though the standard fee will be raised, USCIS will require the applicants for naturalization whose family income is below 200 percent of the Federal Poverty Guidelines to pay a reduced fee of $320. Likewise, U.S. Department of Homeland Security will not change fee from an applicant who meets the requirements with respect to military service and applicants whose requests for fee waivers have been approved.

USCIS believes that the fee increase would help the agency hire more immigration officers needed to reduce case backlogs and improve case processing.

Note: Since the fee for many forms would increase, people looking to obtain immigration benefits or apply for citizenship can apply before the new fee comes to effect, in order to avoid paying more.

Following is the list of USCIS forms with the current and the proposed new fee: