USCIS Announces Filing Fee Changes, Effective November 23, 2010

On September 23, 2010, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) announced upcoming changes to its fee structure. Effective November 23, 2010, government filing fees will increase by approximately 10% for most applications and petitions, although USCIS will reduce fees for six individual applications and petitions and expand the availability of fee waivers to certain application types.

In its announcement, USCIS stated that the agency is primarily a fee-based organization with approximately 90% of its budget derived from filing fees. The remaining funds for the agency’s budget are provided annually by Congress. Federal law requires USCIS to conduct fee reviews every two years to assess whether the agency is recovering its operational costs. These fee changes are the result of a fee review process begun in 2009.

The following schedule provides a list of selected current fees and adjusted fees that will take effect beginning on November 23, 2010 (For a complete list of the filing fee changes, please click here.)