The White House is currently reviewing the first increase in immigration-services fees in seven years. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) forwarded the proposed fee adjustments to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs after a year-long review initiated by the Biden administration. The last fee increase occurred in 2016.

Anticipated to be substantial, the fee hikes are essential as USCIS relies solely on generated fees rather than government funding. The objective behind the adjustment in fee structure is to ensure the agency’s continued operational and financial stability.

The final step in implementing these changes is the review by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA). Following OIRA’s assessment, USCIS will formalize the new fee structure. USCIS has evaluated its current service costs and allocated an annual budget of $1.87 billion to sustain its operations. The proposed adjustments indicate an approximate 40% overall weighted average increase, with previous proposals suggesting that employers will bear the brunt of these fee hikes. Criticisms were widespread when the last publicly available proposal was unveiled.

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