URGENT ALERT: USCIS to Raise Fees Significantly on EB-5 Filings

Time is of the essence in the world of EB-5 and Investors are on notice to act fast in order to avoid increased costs and processing delays, as USCIS has announced huge filing fee increases with the largest bumps in the Employment-Based Categories.

How much is the increase?

EB-5 form types such as I-526E, I-485 and I-829 are targeted as income generating requests to support the overall cost of USCIS operations.  Large fee increases have an immediate impact on every investor’s budget when the minimum investment amount is already a substantial amount of money. Here’s a chart to compare current and new fees.

Is there a timing advantage to filing now?

Fee increases could trigger increased filing activity to beat the rush, leading to increased processing times.  There is a clear cost and timing advantage to moving quickly and our team is working extended hours for qualified investors.

Background on USCIS fees:

As we noted in our video last year, USCIS Increases Fees up to 200%, the Service intends to recover the cost of an expansive humanitarian program with income from Employment-Based visa filings. At that time USCIS proposed a new schedule of extreme fee increases and opened the door for the industry to process the information and provide comments. After almost 12 months and a significant amount of commentary from stakeholders, the Service has kicked off a 60 day window for these fees to be finalized without any significant changes in the Employment Based categories.

Despite the clear lack of correlation between the fee paid and the benefit requested, USCIS is a fee-based agency and this practice is supported by law.

How will this impact EB-5 backlogs?

Setaside visas account for 99% of all new EB-5 applications yet the service can only allocate 32% of visas for use in a given year. A filing rush simply moves the backlog scenarios closer to the future and challenges the ability of USCIS to keep up with demand.

What is the bottom line?

Current Investors: If you are nearing the 21 month anniversary of Conditional Permanent Resident Status, don’t wait until month 24 to file your I-829 as that fee is set to increase significantly.

Potential Investors:  Aside from the obvious cost savings to you by avoiding these increases, you should anticipate a filing rush from other investors hoping to have the same outcome and this could impact processing times especially for those who file after the fees increase.

Time is of the essence in the world of EB-5 and Investors are on notice to act fast in order to avoid increased costs and processing delays, as USCIS is set to announce huge filing fee increases with the largest bumps in the Employment-Based Categories.

How much is the increase?

EB-5 form types such as I-526E, I-485 and I-829 are targeted as income generating requests to support the overall cost of USCIS operations. Based on the previous fee proposal from 2023, these could increase by as much as 3x the current costs. Large fee increases have an immediate impact on every investor’s budget when the minimum investment amount is already a substantial amount of money.

Based on the proposal from last year, filing fees could look like this:

I-526E increase to $11,160 from $3,765

I-485 increase to $1,540 from $1,140

I-131 increase to $630 from $574

I-765 increase to $555 from $410.

Initial EB-5 Filing Cost for a family size of one would be $13,885, an increase of $8,085.

To remove conditions, be mindful of the I-829 increase to $9,626 from $3750; and increase of $5,876.

This represents a total fee increase of $13,961.

Is there a timing advantage to filing now?

Fee increases could trigger increased filing activity to beat the rush, leading to increased processing times.  There is a clear cost and timing advantage to moving quickly and our team is working extended hours for qualified investors.

Background on USCIS fees:

As we noted in our video last year, USCIS Increases Fees up to 200%, the Service intends to recover the cost of an expansive humanitarian program with income from Employment-Based visa filings. At that time USCIS proposed a new schedule of extreme fee increases and opened the door for the industry to process the information and provide comments. After almost 12 months and a significant amount of commentary from stakeholders, the Service has kicked off a 60 day window for these fees to be finalized without any significant changes in the Employment Based categories.

Despite the clear lack of correlation between the fee paid and the benefit requested, USCIS is a fee-based agency and this practice is supported by law.

How will this impact EB-5 backlogs?

Setaside visas account for 99% of all new EB-5 applications yet the service can only allocate 32% of visas for use in a given year. A filing rush simply moves the backlog scenarios closer to the future and challenges the ability of USCIS to keep up with demand.

What is the bottom line?

Current Investors: If you are nearing the 21 month anniversary of Conditional Permanent Resident Status, don’t wait until month 24 to file your I-829 as that fee is set to increase significantly.

Potential Investors:  Aside from the obvious cost savings to you by avoiding these increases, you should anticipate a filing rush from other investors hoping to have the same outcome and this could impact processing times especially for those who file after the fees increase.

To act now, these are your first steps:

1. Verify that you are an Accredited Investor: your projected earnings in 2024 should count toward your three year income test if you can’t meet the $1M USD Net Worth Test.

2. Work with an EB-5 firm sooner than later as they may experience a filing rush and waiting could lead to premium legal fees.

3. Unity Loans and 401K Rollovers take time to execute so talk to us right away to set up your game plan.

To learn more about the RISE fund, specifically tailored for agile EB-5 exit strategies, schedule a call with our team.

We are working expanded hours to meet increased demand before these changes take effect.