Update on DHS’ Proposed Rule on Fee schedule and Other Immigration Benefit Request Requirements

On January 24, 2020, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reopened and extended the Notice and Comment period for the proposed rule on the changes to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)’s fee schedule and certain benefit requests. Member of the public may submit their comments on the proposed rule until February 10, 2020. Since the initial notice and comment period opened on November 14, 2019, over 11,000 comments have been submitted from the general public, immigration groups, trade associations, businesses, universities, etc. The previous notice and comment period closed on December 30, 2019. As stated in our previous Business Immigration Update , the proposed rule, which was published on November 14, 2019, will adjust the fee schedule for certain immigration and naturalization benefit request fees charged by US Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) by a weighted average increase of 21%. The filing fee to apply to become a U.S. citizen will increase 83% from $640 to $1,170. In addition, the DHS plans to change certain requirements for applications, including changes to premium processing and establishing different fees and different petition forms for nonimmigrant categories including H, L, TN, E and O.