On January 30, 2024, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced an increase to its filing fees across the board. The last such increase was in 2016. This change will be effective April 1, 2024. In some cases, increases are minor, but several are substantive.
One of the changes will be varying filing fees determined by visa type. As an example, the H-1B visa will have a base filing fee of $780. This is up 26% from the current $460. This new fee will likely apply to all H-1B cap cases for this year if the filing period starts April 1 or later. Another common visa is the L-1 for intracompany transferees. This category will see an increase of 201% with the new filing fee at $1,385 as opposed to the current $460. In the area of "green card" petitions, there will be an almost insignificant change to the company's sponsorship petition (I-140) from $700 to $715. A full list of all fees can be found here.
The new fee structure has one "benefit" for small employers and nonprofit entities. It will provide special fee discounts to qualifying entities. In the H-1B context, the filing fee will be unchanged and continue at its current rate of $460. The L-1 classification will increase somewhat from $460 to $695 – as opposed to the $1,385 for all other entities. The small employers are defined as those having 25 or fewer full-time equivalent employees.
Previously, on December 27, 2023, USCIS separately announced an increase to the premium processing fees from $2,500 to $2,805. This will take effect February 26, 2024. In January's fee increase notification, USCIS clarified it will now be processing these cases in 15 "business days" rather than the prior "calendar days" thereby possibly delaying the adjudication by one week.
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