U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a final rule that increases fees for most immigration benefit applications and petitions by an average of 10 percent, effective November 23. The final rule made no changes to the fee schedule contained in the proposed rule, which was discussed in the June 2010 issue of the Immigration eAuthority. Although a few fees will be reduced under the proposal, the filing fees for primary employer-sponsored petition forms will increase. The I-129 Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker (used for H-1B, H-2B, O-1 and L-1 petitions, among others) would be increased from $320 to $325. The I-140 Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker (used for most employer-sponsored green cards) would be raised from $475 to $580. Please see the USCIS fact sheet for a schedule of fee changes.
