02/04/2004 IMMIGRATION ALERT:
IMMIGRATION FEE INCREASES PROPOSED

 

Citizenship and Immigration Service (CIS, successor to INS) announced a proposal to increase the filing fees of almost all of its immigration forms and applications. The average filing fee will increase about $55 per petition or application.

It is expected that the revenues generated from the fee increase will be put back into CIS' budget. In turn, CIS expects to meet the six month processing time directive pursued by Congress. Under the directive Congress expects that no Form or Application's processing time should exceed six months.

A list of common fees and their proposed increases is below. The actual federal register notice, which includes a table of all proposed increases can be found at: Click Here

One of the more unusual provisions of the Notice allows the CIS to annually adjust its fees every October 1, to account for inflation. To date CIS has never had an regular inflation adjustment.
 

Form	Current Fee	Proposed Fee	Increase
I-129 Petition for Nonimmigrant Worker	$130	$185	$55
I-131, Application for Travel Document	$110	$165	$55
I-140 Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker	$135	$190	$55
I-485 Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status	$255	$315	$60
I-765 Application for Employment Authorization	$120	$175	$55
Biometric Fee	$50	$70	$20