USCIS Publishes Final Rule for EB-5 Form Fee Increases
On Wednesday, January 31, 2024, U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) published a final rule that increases the fees for many EB-5-related forms. The new fee structure will take effect starting April 1, 2024. A press release from USCIS can be read here. Just over a year ago in January 2023, USCIS published its notice of proposed rule making (NPRM) which reflected its anticipation to increase fees. Although EB-5 is not the only immigration category to see fee increases, it is seeing the highest percentage of increase per form.
After the NPRM was published last year, IIUSA submitted comments to USCIS stating the fee increases were extreme and unfounded, citing long processing times, inaccurate inputs to the model for the fee increases, and the undue imbalance of EB-5 taking on the majority share of off-setting fee waiver programs, amongst other things. Additionally, IIUSA’s comments cited a lack of a fee study for these increases, which is required by statute in the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022.
IIUSA comments on the NPRM from March 2023 can be read in full here.
The published final rule shows the fee increases to be exactly as they were proposed in the NPRM. A chart is below to visualize the current fees, the increased fees, and the percentage of that increase.
| Form | Current Fee | New Fee | Percentage of Increase |
| I-965G Regional Center Annual Statement | $3,035 | $4,470 | 47% |
| I-956 Regional Center Application | $17,795 | $47,695 | 168% |
| I-956F Application for Approval of an Investment in a Commercial Enterprise | $17,795 | $47,695 | 168% |
| I-829 Petition by Investor to Remove Conditions | $3,750 | $9,525 | 154% |
| I-526/I-526E Immigrant Petition by Standalone/Regional Center Investor | $3,675 | $11,160 | 204% |
USCIS will hold a public engagement on this topic on Thursday, February 22 from 2-3pm ET. You can register for the event here.
