The United States has finalised steep fee increases for its EB-5 immigrant-investor programme, more than doubling the cost of filing certain petitions in a change likely to affect applicants from India seeking permanent residence through investment. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced the revised fee schedule, which is scheduled to take effect on November 30. Under the new rules, the filing fee for Form I-526 for standalone investors will rise from $3,675 to $7,615, while the initial Form I-526E petition fee for regional center participants will increase from $3,675 to $7,850. Additionally, initial petitions will include a $75 technology fee, and regional-centre investors must continue to pay the programme’s investor integrity fee. Furthermore, the fee for Form I-829, filed to remove conditions on permanent resident status, will increase from $3,750 to $5,000.
Sharper Increases for Regional Centres and New Forms:
Charges imposed on regional centres will rise even more substantially under the updated framework. The fee for an initial Form I-956 application seeking regional-centre designation will climb from $17,795 to $44,115, and the charge for Form I-956F for commercial enterprise investment approval will rise to $42,675. However, the annual fee for Form I-956G will decrease slightly from $3,035 to $2,165. The final rule also introduces Form I-527, costing $10,330, for investors seeking to amend older Form I-526 petitions. Annual EB-5 Integrity Fund payments will also increase to $11,000 for regional centres with 20 or fewer investors and to $22,000 for larger centres, with strict late payment penalties ranging from 10 to 20 percent.
Rationale and Program Context:
USCIS stated that the adjustments are designed to ensure fees fully cover operating expenses, meet statutory processing targets, and support heightened integrity measures such as audits, compliance reviews, and fraud detection. Because the agency is largely financed through application fees rather than direct taxpayer funding, users of the immigration system must bear the administrative costs. Established by Congress in 1990, the EB-5 programme requires a minimum investment of $800,000 in a targeted employment area or $1.05 million elsewhere. For Indian applicants, these government filing costs are distinct from capital investments, legal expenses, and regional-centre administrative fees.
