Significant Increase in Immigration Filing Fees
06/14/2007

On May 29, 2007, United States Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that its filing fees will increase, effective July 30, 2007. Any petition or application filed on or after July 30 must be accompanied by the new fee. To view a full USCIS fee schedule please click here.

Most notably, the USCIS instituted significant increases to the fees for employment-based nonimmigrant petitions, such as H-1B, L-1, TN, and O-1, and employment-based immigrant petitions, such as I-140, I-485, Advance Parole, and Employment Authorization. For example, the filing fee for an H-1B work permit increases by $130 per worker per filing. For an I-140 petition, the fee increased by $280 to $475. The largest increases affect the I-485, Application for Permanent Residence, where it will now cost a family of four $3,220 in filing fees, up from $1,240.

Any application filed with USCIS on or before July 27, 2007 will not be subject to the fee increase. Employers may wish to identify foreign national employees whose work permits expire before January 27, 2008 so that renewal applications can be prepared and filed prior to the filing fee increase (given that renewal requests may be filed up to six months in advance of expiration). In addition, any I-485 filings in the process of being prepared should be filed prior to July 27.

If you have any questions concerning this One Minute Memo®, please consult the Seyfarth Shaw LLP attorney with whom you work or any immigration attorney on the website.

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