EB-5 Filing Fee Change Nov. 30

Tomorrow the Federal Register will publish a final rule for Employment-Based Immigrant Visa, Fifth Preference (EB-5) Fee Rule (RIN 1615–AC93). The final rule covers EB-5 fee changes and some edits to the regulations at Part 216 for investor spouses and children removing conditions. The final rule preamble also responds to comments on the proposed I-527 process for good faith investors amending petitions. The final rule is significantly different from the NPRM (which I discussed here), including setting some fees even lower than previously proposed.

The rule text specifies an effective date “60 days from publication.” The USCIS announcement for the rule states that “The new fees are designed to go into effect on Nov. 30, 2026.”

The fees to take effect on November 30 are higher than the 2016 fee levels that we’ve been enjoying after litigation, but – in many cases – lower than fees previously set in the USCIS fee rule and previously proposed in the NPRM. USCIS has set most EB-5 fees relatively low (considering its EB-5 budget) partly based on high receipt volume projections. I was tempted to harp on the volume issue in my NPRM comment. Does the government believe that EB-5 is a scam, with no intent to actually match investors with visas, when it projects 8,500 annual I-526E receipts for a program with only enough visas to accommodate fewer than 4,000 annual investors? Has no one heard about grandfathering and authorization deadlines, and the likely market impact of backlogs? Or realized that I-829 receipt volumes are a predictable function of numerically limited visas issued two years previously? But I stayed silent, because who wants to be the villain arguing “actually, you need to charge more.” (As an example of what results from less optimistic volume projections: USCIS originally proposed setting the I-956F fee at less than $30K, but finalized it at over $40K after recalculating projected annual receipts from 450 to 240.) I do appreciate that USCIS read public comments, and made some sensible revisions to the fee levels — for example, charging considerably less for an I-956 amendment than the initial I-956. The final rule persists in declining to make any firm timely processing commitments, but it promises that “DHS will continue to evaluate program performance and consider further regulatory or operational changes as needed to support timely adjudication.” And the USCIS announcement thankfully mentions timely processing goals in the stated rationale: “to ensure EB-5 fees fully recover the cost of operating the program, meet statutory processing time goals, and support integrity measures such as audits and site visits.”

Form	Fee from USCIS Fee Rule prior to litigation	Fee proposed in NPRM	Current fee (2016 level following litigation)	Final Fee effective 11/30/2026
I-526 (with tech fee)	$11,160	$9,625	$3,675	$7,615
I-526E initial (with tech fee)	$11,160	$9,625	$3,675	$7,850
I-526E amendment	$11,160	$9,530	$3,675	$7,775
I-527	$0	$8,000	$0	$10,330
I-829	$9,525	$7,860	$3,750	$5,000
I-956 initial	$47,695	$28,895	$17,795	$44,115
I-956 amendment	$47,695	$18,480	$17,795	$9,835
I-956F	$47,695	$29,935	$17,795	$42,675
I-956G	$4,470	$2,740	$3,035	$2,165
I-956H	$0	$55	$0	$65
I-956K	$0	$2,740	$0	$2,165
EB-5 Technology Fee	—	$95	—	$75
I-526E Integrity Fund fee	$1,000	$1,085	$1,000	$1,100
RC Integrity Fund fee (20 or fewer investors)	$10,000	$10,825	$10,000	$11,000
RC Integrity Fund fee	$20,000	$21,650	$20,000	$22,000

P.S. A very interesting October 2026 Visa Bulletin has been published. I’ll write an in-depth analysis as time permits, particularly addressing the background and broadly-applicable significance of China Unreserved date movement.