Visa Lawyer Blog
UPDATE: Today, December 29, 2016, USCIS announced that previous editions of affected forms will continue to be accepted by USCIS until February 21, 2017, except for the N-400 Application for Naturalization. N-400 Application for Naturalization must be filed with the 12/23/16 edition date. No prior editions of form N-400 will be accepted by USCIS. Please remember that the new fee schedule will continue to be enforced. New form editions will contain an edition date of 12/23/16. Updated forms can be found at uscis.gov/forms. The complete fee schedule can be found at uscis.gov/forms/our-fees.
New Form Versions Published Effective December 23, 2016
Today, December 23, 2016, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), published many new form versions to be effective today December 23, 2016. USCIS did not provide the public with any prior notice of these new form versions, and no alerts were sent out to affected stakeholders regarding these new changes. USCIS has indicated that because older form editions may have already been completed or filed with USCIS, they will use their discretion in accepting or rejecting older form versions. However, please be warned that the USCIS website has indicated that no other versions of the affected forms will be accepted except for Form I-129. This means that USCIS may use their discretion to reject any filing that contains an older edition of the form. It appears that USCIS will be flexible and apply discretion to forms that have already been completed or filed with an older edition date at least for older editions of forms received within the next week.
New editions have been published for the following forms: I-90, I-102, I-129, I-129CW, I-129F, I-130, I-131, I-131A, I-140, I-191, I-192, I-212, I-290B, I-360, I-485, I-485 Supplement A, I-525, I-539, I-600, I-600A, I-601, I-601A, I-612, I-690, I-694, I-698, I-751, I-765, I-800, I-800A, I-817, I-824, I-910, I-924, I-924A, I-929, I-942, I-942P, N-300, N-336, N-400, N-470, N-600, and N-600K.
New Filing Fees Effective as of Today December 23, 2016
As a reminder please note that the Department of Homeland Security has increased filing fees for certain immigration and naturalization petitions processed by USCIS, effective today December 23, 2016. Applications and petitions postmarked or filed on or after December 23, 2016, must include the new fees, otherwise USCIS will reject the form submission. Failure to include the new fees with forms postmarked or filed on or after December 23, 2016 will result in an outright rejection of the form. Applicants will no longer have a 14-day grace period to correct filing fee payments. Instead, USCIS will begin automatic rejections of petitions that do not contain the correct filing fee amount based on nonpayment. USCIS will not consider an immigration benefit request submitted if it does not contain the correct biometric service fees. Biometric services fees, if applicable, must be paid at the time of filing without exception. Immigration petitions that do not include the correct biometric service fee will be automatically rejected. USCIS will accept previous fees only for petitions postmarked with a date of December 22 or an earlier date.
Please note that Form I-912 Request for Fee Waiver, may be filed for any family-based non-immigrant visa petitions, if the applicant can demonstrate their inability to pay based on any of the following: financial hardship, household income is at or below 150% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines, or the applicant, spouse, or head of household is currently receiving a means tested benefit. For a list of petitions that qualify for a fee waiver please review the I-912 instructions.
Some of the petitions subject to the new filing fees include:
- Form I-924, Application for Regional Center under the Immigrant Investor Pilot Program, $17,795
- I-526 Immigrant Petition by Alien Entrepreneur, $3,675
- N-400: A standard filing fee of $640; Reduced fee of $320 for naturalization applicants whose household income is greater than 150% but less than 200% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines; No filing fee for naturalization applicants who are members of the military, applicants with approved fee waivers, and others who may qualify for a fee waiver according to sections 328 or 329 of the Immigration and nationality Act (INA).
- Forms N-600 Application for Certificate of Citizenship and N-600K Application for Citizenship, $1,170
- Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker, $460
- Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker, $700
- Form I-485 Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, $1,140
- I-130 Petition for Alien Relative, $535
- I-129F Petition for Alien fiancé, $535
- I-751 Petition to Remove Conditions on Permanent Residence, $595
- I-131, Application for Travel Document, $575 for applicants seeking advance parole and re-entry permits. Adjustment of status applicants who have filed Form I-485 on or after July 30, 2007, and paid the I-485 filing fee, will not be required to pay a filing fee for Form I-131 if their Form I-485 remains pending with USCIS.
- I-765 Application for Employment Authorization, $410. This increase will apply to applicants for work authorization, including foreign students approved for Optional Practical Training, spouses of certain nonimmigrant visa holders, recipients of DACA and TPS applicants.
- I-90 Application to Replace Permanent Resident Card, $455.
- I-212 Application for Permission to Reapply for Admission into the U.S. after deportation or removal, $930.
For the complete list of filing fees effective today December 23, 2016 please click here.
Naturalization applicants whose demonstrated household income is greater than 150% but less than 200% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines will enjoy a reduced filing fee of $320. There will be no filing fee for naturalization applicants who are members of the military, applicants with approved fee waivers, and others who may qualify for a fee waiver. All other applicants (who are not low income and not in the military) must pay a standard filing fee of $640. Low income applicants may obtain eligibility information and instructions here.