U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, or USCIS, published its final rule for its revised fee schedule on August 3, 2020. The final rule is scheduled to take effect as of October 2, 2020. Changes set forth in the final rule include dramatic increases in many current USCIS application fees as well as the creation of a fee for asylum applications. While fee waivers required by statute remain in place, the rule eliminates most existing fee waivers that allow vulnerable immigrants to maintain their status and progress in their immigration journey. Some of the new fees will be as follows:

Adjustment of Status to Lawful Permanent Residency – $1,225 for most applicants to $2,270.

Work Authorization – $410 to $550, with the exception of I-765s filed by recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, which will remain the same.

Naturalization – $640 to $1,170. Additionally, it will eliminate the option to request a reduced fee of $320 using Form I-942 as well as fee waivers for the N-400.

Provisional Waivers – The Form I–601A application for a provisional unlawful presence waiver will increase from $630 to $960.

Nonimmigrant Worker Petitions – USCIS is separating the former Form I-129 into several new I-129 forms by worker type, for example, an I-129MISC for classification as a P, Q, R and H-3 nonimmigrant. The filing fee will increase fee from $460 to $695.

Affirmative Asylum – USCIS will impose a new fee of $50 on applications for asylum (Form I-589), making the United States one of only four countries in the world that levy such a fee on asylum seekers.

Fee Waivers – USCIS will not allow existing fee waivers except for those enumerated by statute. Among the fee waivers largely eliminated are those for applications for naturalization, adjustment of status, green card replacement and renewals (Form I-90) and employment authorization.

Online Filing – The fee for forms filed online will be $10 lower than the fee for the same form filed by mail, if online filing is available.