EB-5 Fee Increase 2026: New USCIS Fees Take Effect November 30

Reviewed by: Beth Persky, Esq.

Introduction

Starting with petitions postmarked on or after November 30, 2026, the USCIS fee for Form I-526E (regional center investor) rises from $3,675 to $7,850, Form I-526 (standalone investor) rises from $3,675 to $7,615, and Form I-829 (removal of conditions) rises from $3,750 to $5,000. The Department of Homeland Security published the final EB-5 fee rule in the Federal Register on September 30, 2026 (FR Doc. 2026-20016), and USCIS announced it on September 29, 2026. As of today, October 1, 2026, the current (lower) fees still apply, and they remain in effect for filings postmarked through November 29, 2026.

The final rule also sets a $10,330 fee for the new Form I-527, builds a $75 EB-5 technology fee into the Form I-526 fee and the initial Form I-526E fee, and raises the EB-5 Integrity Fund fees by 10 percent. USCIS states that the new fees are meant to recover the full cost of running the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program, help the agency work toward the processing time goals Congress set in the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022, and fund integrity work such as audits and site visits.

What did USCIS announce about EB-5 fees?

On September 29, 2026, USCIS announced a final rule adjusting the fees for the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program. The Department of Homeland Security published the rule, titled “U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Employment-Based Immigrant Visa, Fifth Preference (EB-5) Fee Rule,” in the Federal Register on September 30, 2026 (FR Doc. 2026-20016, RIN 1615-AC93, DHS Docket No. USCIS-2025-0139). The rule amends 8 CFR parts 106 and 216.

The rule finalizes the EB-5 fee proposal DHS published on October 23, 2025 (90 FR 48516). It sets a new fee for each EB-5 program form, creates the EB-5 technology fee, and writes the EB-5 Integrity Fund fees and late-payment penalties into the regulations at 8 CFR 106.2(d). Several final fees differ from the proposed amounts. DHS proposed higher fees for Form I-526 and initial Form I-526E than it finalized, and lowered them after updating the fee study with FY 2026/2027 projections and the lower “current” fees that resulted from the Moody v. Noem decision (discussed below). The Form I-527 fee moved the other way, from a proposed $8,000 to a final $10,330.

When do the new EB-5 fees take effect?

The final rule is effective November 30, 2026. It states that any application, petition, or request postmarked on or after that date must be accompanied by the fees established by the rule.

The postmark date controls, not the date USCIS receives the package and not the date you sign the form. A petition postmarked on or after November 30, 2026 that carries the old fee amount can be rejected for incorrect fee, which means USCIS would not assign a receipt date until the petition is refiled with the correct fee. For an investor whose priority date, child’s age under the Child Status Protection Act, or visa bulletin position depends on the filing date, a rejection for the wrong fee can have consequences well beyond the fee itself.

How much are the new EB-5 fees?

The table below compares the fees USCIS collects today with the final fees, as listed in Table 1 of the final rule. “Current fee” means the pre-April 1, 2024 fees that USCIS reinstated in November 2025 after Moody v. Noem.

EB- 5 Fee Comparison

Source: DHS final rule, FR Doc. 2026-20016, Table 1, and 8 CFR 106.2(d) as amended.

The Form I-526E amendment fee ($7,775) is $75 lower than the initial fee ($7,850) because the technology fee is not charged on amendments. Among the regional center fees, Form I-956 amendments and the Form I-956G annual statement go down while initial designation and project approval fees go up sharply. DHS attributes the shift to updated cost and volume data and to a decision, made in response to public comments, to allocate the cost of regional center terminations and reaffirmations differently than in the proposed rule.

How much will a regional center investor pay when filing Form I-526E?

A regional center investor filing an initial Form I-526E postmarked on or after November 30, 2026 pays two separate USCIS amounts: the $7,850 petition fee and the $1,100 EB-5 Integrity Fund fee. Together, that is $8,950 in USCIS fees at the petition stage, compared with $4,675 under the current fees.

These are government fees only. They do not include the investment itself, administrative fees charged by the regional center or project, or legal fees. Later steps carry their own government fees: Form I-485 (Adjustment of Status) or the immigrant visa process through the Department of State, and later Form I-829. USCIS also does not accept a single combined payment for Form I-526 or I-526E filed together with Forms I-485, I-131, or I-765; each form’s fee must be paid separately, or USCIS will reject the forms.

Why is USCIS raising EB-5 fees?

Section 106 of the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 (Public Law 117-103, div. BB) directed DHS to run an EB-5-specific fee study and set fees at a level that recovers the full cost of administering the program and seeks to attain the statute’s processing time goals. USCIS is funded almost entirely by filing fees rather than appropriations, and the final rule states that USCIS receives no Congressional appropriation for the EB-5 program.

According to the final rule, EB-5 program-specific costs are projected at about $105 million a year for FY 2026/2027, while current fees would bring in about $56.6 million. The new fee schedule is designed to close that gap of roughly $48.4 million. DHS also raised its projection of average annual EB-5 receipts from 11,262 to 16,604 filings across nine existing forms and one new form. The rule states that EB-5 fees are not subject to fee waivers or exemptions, so DHS assumed a 100 percent fee-paying rate in its revenue projections.

What is Form I-527, and who files it?

Form I-527, Amendment to Legacy Form I-526, is a new form for investors who filed Form I-526 before the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act was enacted on March 15, 2022 (pre-Reform Act or “legacy” investors). It is designed for those investors to amend their petition to retain eligibility after their regional center is terminated, or after their new commercial enterprise or job-creating entity is debarred. The final fee is $10,330, up from the $8,000 DHS proposed, and the rule estimates a 1.44-hour time burden to complete the form. DHS declined requests for a fee waiver or reduced fee for Form I-527.

The filing deadline is set by statute, not by the fee rule. The final rule states that USCIS will follow the deadlines in INA 203(b)(5)(M), including any extension the statute authorizes. Under that provision, a legacy investor whose regional center is terminated, or whose new commercial enterprise or job-creating entity is debarred, generally must act within 180 days after USCIS issues notice of the termination or debarment to preserve eligibility, and USCIS may extend that period where the statute allows. Because the clock starts with the USCIS notice, a legacy investor who receives a termination or debarment notice should raise it with an attorney immediately. Whether a particular legacy investor needs to file Form I-527 at all depends on the investor’s facts, including whether eligibility can be preserved without an amendment.

What is the EB-5 technology fee?

The EB-5 technology fee is a $75 charge that funds improvements to the USCIS information technology systems used to process, adjudicate, and archive EB-5 filings. Section 106(c) of the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act allows a technology fee of not more than 1 percent of certain fees. DHS proposed $95 and lowered it to $75 in the final rule after recalculating the base fees.

Under amended 8 CFR 106.2(d), the technology fee applies to each Form I-526 and to each initial filing of Form I-526E, and it is already included in the $7,615 and $7,850 amounts. You do not send a separate $75 payment. The fee is not charged on Form I-526E amendments, which is why the amendment fee is $7,775.

What changes for regional centers?

Among the fees listed in the rule, regional center filings have the largest dollar changes. The initial Form I-956 designation fee rises to $44,115 and Form I-956F rises to $42,675. Form I-956 amendments drop to $9,835, and the Form I-956G annual statement drops to 2,165. Two filings that previously  had no fee, Form I-956H ($65) and Form I-956K ($2,165), now carry fees.

The annual Regional Center Integrity Fund fee payment period opens each October 1, and the fee must be paid on or before October 31 to avoid a late penalty. Under the final rule, the fee is $22,000, or $11,000 for a regional center with 20 or fewer total investors in its new commercial enterprises in the preceding fiscal year (October 1 through September 30). The rule writes the following late-payment consequences into 8 CFR 106.2(d):

1. Paid from November 1 through the end of the day on November 30: a penalty equal to 10 percent of the required fee.
2. Paid from December 1 through the end of the day on December 30: a penalty equal to 20 percent of the required fee.
3. Not paid, with any penalty, by December 30: USCIS will terminate the regional center’s designation after issuing a notice of intent to terminate. The termination may be appealed under 8 CFR 103.3.

Timing for the current cycle: the FY 2027 payment period opened today, October 1, 2026, and the payment deadline, October 31, 2026, falls before the rule’s November 30, 2026 effective date. Because the new amounts and the codified penalties apply only from November 30, 2026, a timely FY 2027 payment is governed by the current $10,000 or $20,000 amount. How the new rule applies to a FY 2027 payment first made on or after November 30, 2026 is a question a regional center should confirm with counsel and against the USCIS EB-5 Integrity Fund page.

Because a regional center termination can affect every investor associated with that center, investors may want to confirm that their regional center has paid its Integrity Fund fee and remains in good standing.

Why are today’s EB-5 fees lower than the 2024 fee schedule?

On November 12, 2025, the United States District Court for the District of Colorado ruled in Moody v. Noem, No. 24-cv-00762-CNS, that the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act precluded DHS from adjusting EB-5 program fees through its general FY 2022/2023 fee rule (effective April 1, 2024). The court stayed the EB-5 fees from that rule. USCIS reverted to the EB-5 fees in effect through March 31, 2024, such as $3,675 for Form I-526 and I-526E and $3,750 for Form I-829, and published a new edition of Form G-1055 on November 14, 2025. The final rule states that USCIS accepted the April 2024 fee amounts for items postmarked before November 26, 2025. Those reinstated amounts are the “current” fees in the table above.

DHS states in the final rule that it believes the court’s decision is incorrect but has implemented it. The new fee rule is DHS’s separate, program-specific fee study under the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act, so the legal basis the court faulted in the 2024 rule does not apply in the same way. The final rule also states that USCIS is not required to refund investors who paid the higher fees that took effect on April 1, 2024.

Does the fee rule change EB-5 processing times?

The rule does not set or guarantee any processing time. Section 106(b) of the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act sets average processing time goals for the fee study, and DHS states it set the fees at a level meant to help USCIS work toward them. The statutory goals, measured on average from receipt, are:

• 240 days for a regional center investor petition and for a petition to remove conditions.
• 120 days for a regional center investor petition tied to an investment in a targeted employment area (TEA).
• 180 days for a regional center designation application and for an application for approval of an investment in a new commercial enterprise.
• 90 days for an application for approval of an investment in a new commercial enterprise located in a TEA.

These are goals, not deadlines, and nothing in the rule requires USCIS to meet them in any individual case. Actual processing times vary, can change at any time, and are posted on the USCIS processing times page at egov.uscis.gov/processing-times. This article does not state current processing times; check the live USCIS page for your form and the EB-5 office.

What else does the rule change for Form I-829?

Besides the new $5,000 fee, the rule revises 8 CFR 216.6, effective November 30, 2026, to spell out who may be included on an investor’s Form I-829. An investor may include a spouse and children who obtained conditional permanent residence through the investor, a child who turned 21 or married during the conditional period, and a former spouse who divorced the investor during that period.

The filing window itself does not change. Form I-829 must be properly filed during the 90-day period immediately before the second anniversary of the date the investor obtained conditional permanent residence. Under 8 CFR 216.6(a)(5), failure to properly file within that 90-day period results in automatic termination of conditional permanent resident status and initiation of removal proceedings. USCIS may, in its discretion, accept a petition filed after the 90-day period if the petitioner establishes good cause and extenuating circumstances for the delay.

A spouse, former spouse, or child who is not included on the investor’s petition generally must file a separate Form I-829 during the same period in which the investor is required to file. If the investor is deceased, the spouse and children may file separate petitions or may be included together in a single petition. If the investor does not file, the spouse, former spouse, or children may file to remove conditions if they can establish eligibility, but they must do so during the period in which the investor would have been required to file. Each separately filed Form I-829 carries its own filing fee.

How does the fee date interact with the September 30, 2026 grandfathering date and the 2027 sunset?

The fee change is one of three EB-5 dates within roughly a year of each other, and investors should keep them separate.

First, the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act authorizes the reformed Regional Center Program through September 30, 2027. Congress would need to act to extend it beyond that date.

Second, the Act added a grandfathering provision at INA 203(b)(5)(S). Under that provision, USCIS continues to process a regional center investor petition filed on or before September 30, 2026, and the related Adjustment of Status or immigrant visa applications, even if the Regional Center Program later lapses, subject to the conditions in the statute. That date has now passed. A regional center investor who files Form I-526E on or after October 1, 2026 does not have that statutory protection and is relying on Congress reauthorizing the program before September 30, 2027.

Third, the fee increase takes effect November 30, 2026. It is a separate event and does not change either of the other dates. An investor weighing whether to file before November 30, 2026 to pay the lower fee should discuss the reauthorization risk with an attorney at the same time, because the fee savings is small relative to the investment at stake.

What should investors with upcoming EB-5 filings keep in mind?

For an investor who plans to file Form I-526, I-526E, or I-829 before November 30, 2026, the main practical point is timing: the fee owed depends on the postmark date, and a filing postmarked on or before November 29, 2026 uses the current schedule. Filing early to capture the lower fee only helps if the petition is complete. Source-of-funds documentation, project documents, and job-creation evidence take time to assemble, an incomplete petition can lead to a request for evidence or a denial, and USCIS filing fees are generally not refundable even if the petition is denied or withdrawn.

Specific situations to raise with your attorney:

• Form I-829 filers are bound by the 90-day window. Under 8 CFR 216.6(a)(1), Form I-829 must be filed in the 90 days before the second anniversary of conditional residence, and the regulation does not allow early filing to lock in a fee. A Form I-829 postmarked on or after November 30, 2026 requires the $5,000 fee; a properly filed Form I-829 postmarked during its window on or before November 29, 2026 uses the current $3,750 fee. A window that opens before November 30 and closes after it means the fee depends on the actual postmark date. Filing after the window closes risks automatic termination of conditional status unless USCIS accepts the late petition for good cause and extenuating circumstances.
• Petitions in progress. If your Form I-526 or I-526E is nearly ready, ask whether it can be completed and postmarked before November 30, 2026 without sacrificing quality. If not, budget for the new fee and, for regional center investors, the $1,100 Integrity Fund fee.
• Pre-Reform Act investors. If your regional center has been terminated or your new commercial enterprise or job-creating entity has been debarred, ask whether Form I-527 applies to you and confirm the statutory deadline that runs from the USCIS notice.
• Dependents. Confirm which family members will be included on your Form I-829 and whether anyone must file separately, since each separate petition has its own fee and the same filing window.
• Regional center standing. Ask your regional center to confirm its Integrity Fund fee payments and its Form I-956G filings are current.

Separately from the fee rule, the final rule notes that DHS published a proposed EB-5 integrity and automatic-revocation rule on July 2, 2026. That proposal is not law, and nothing in it changes the November 30, 2026 fee schedule. If finalized, it could change EB-5 procedures in ways that affect pending and future filings, so investors planning a filing should ask their attorney about its status.

Frequently asked questions about the EB-5 fee increase

• Do I have to pay the new fee if my Form I-526E is already filed?

  No. The new fees apply to filings postmarked on or after November 30, 2026. The rule does not require investors whose petitions were postmarked earlier to pay the difference. Later filings in the same case, such as Form I-829, will be charged the fee in effect on the date they are postmarked.

• Does a standalone (direct) investor pay the $1,100 EB-5 Integrity Fund fee?

  No. The EB-5 Integrity Fund petition fee applies to initial petitions filed through the Regional Center Program on Form I-526E. A standalone investor filing Form I-526 pays the $7,615 petition fee, which already includes the $75 technology fee, and no Integrity Fund fee.

• Does the EB-5 fee rule change the minimum investment amount?

  No. The fee rule sets USCIS filing fees, the technology fee, and Integrity Fund fees. The EB-5 minimum investment amounts are set by statute at INA 203(b)(5)(C) and are not changed by this rule.

• Can EB-5 filing fees be waived?

  The final rule states that EB-5 fees are not subject to fee waivers or exemptions, and DHS specifically declined to offer a fee waiver or reduced fee for Form I-527.

• Will USCIS refund the higher EB-5 fees some investors paid between April 2024 and November 2025?

  The final rule states that USCIS is not required to issue refunds to investors who paid the fees that took effect on April 1, 2024. The Moody v. Noem decision stayed those fees going forward and did not order reimbursement.

• Does the EB-5 fee increase change the Form I-485 fee?

  No. The rule sets fees only for EB-5 program forms: Forms I-526, I-526E, I-527, I-829, the I-956 series, and the Integrity Fund fees. Form I-485 and other general forms follow the general USCIS fee schedule, which should be checked separately on Form G-1055 before filing.

• Can I pay one combined fee for Form I-526E and Form I-485 filed together?

  No. USCIS states that it will reject Forms I-526 or I-526E filed with Forms I-485, I-131, or I-765 if a single combined fee payment is submitted. Pay each form’s fee separately.

• Do my spouse and children need their own Form I-829?

  Not necessarily. Under revised 8 CFR 216.6, effective November 30, 2026, an investor may include a spouse and children who obtained conditional residence through the investor, including a child who turned 21 or married during the conditional period and a former spouse divorced during that period. Anyone not included generally must file a separate Form I-829 within the investor’s 90-day filing window and pay a separate fee. If the investor is deceased, the spouse and children may file separately or together in one petition, still within that window.

• If my petition is rejected for the wrong fee, do I keep my original filing date?

  No. A rejected filing is not considered received, so USCIS does not assign a receipt date until a properly filed petition with the correct fee is received. This can matter for your priority date and for a child’s age calculation under the Child Status Protection Act.

• How long is the EB-5 Regional Center Program authorized?

  The EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act authorized the reformed Regional Center Program through September 30, 2027. Congress would need to act to extend it. Regional center petitions filed on or before September 30, 2026 are covered by the statute’s grandfathering provision; petitions filed after that date are not.