Washington, September 30, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
The United States has finalised substantial fee increases for its EB-5 immigrant-investor programme, with the cost of filing some investor petitions more than doubling under a revised fee structure scheduled to take effect on November 30.
US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced the revised charges on Tuesday. The increases are expected to affect applicants, including those from India, seeking permanent residence in the US through investment.
The filing fee for Form I-526, used by standalone investors, will rise from $3,675 to $7,615. The fee for an initial Form I-526E petition, filed by investors participating through an approved regional centre, will increase from $3,675 to $7,850.
Both initial I-526 and I-526E petitions will also attract a $75 technology fee. Regional-centre investors will additionally be required to pay the programme’s investor integrity fee.
The fee for Form I-829, which investors file to remove conditions on their permanent resident status, will increase from $3,750 to $5,000.
Charges for regional centres will see sharper increases. The fee for an initial Form I-956 application seeking regional-centre designation will rise from $17,795 to $44,115, while the fee for Form I-956F, used to seek approval for an investment in a commercial enterprise, will increase to $42,675.
However, the annual fee for Form I-956G will decrease from $3,035 to $2,165.
The final rule also introduces Form I-527 for certain investors seeking to amend older Form I-526 petitions. The new filing will carry a fee of $10,330.
The revised fee schedule was released for public inspection on Tuesday and is scheduled for formal publication in the Federal Register on Wednesday.
USCIS said the changes are intended to ensure that fees cover the full cost of administering the EB-5 programme, help the agency meet statutory processing targets and provide resources for stronger integrity measures. These include audits, compliance reviews, site visits and efforts to detect fraud and abuse.
USCIS is largely funded through application and petition fees rather than direct taxpayer funding. The agency said the costs of reviewing applications, verifying eligibility, conducting background checks and maintaining programme operations must therefore be covered by those using the immigration system.
The EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 directed USCIS to conduct a separate study of the programme’s costs and set fees at levels sufficient to recover the full expense of administering it. The law also established processing goals and expanded oversight of regional centres, promoters and investment projects.
The new rule raises the annual EB-5 Integrity Fund payment from $10,000 to $11,000 for regional centres with 20 or fewer investors. For larger regional centres, the payment will increase from $20,000 to $22,000.
The rule also introduces penalties for late payments. Regional centres making payments in November after the deadline could face a 10 per cent penalty, rising to 20 per cent for payments made in December. Continued non-payment could result in termination.
USCIS said the revised charges are intended to strengthen programme integrity while ensuring that the agency has sufficient resources to process investor petitions.
Created by Congress in 1990, the EB-5 programme is designed to encourage foreign investment and job creation in the United States. Qualifying investors can obtain conditional permanent residence for themselves, their spouses and eligible children by investing in an American commercial enterprise and creating the required number of jobs.
The programme generally requires an investment of $800,000 in a targeted employment area or qualifying infrastructure project, or $1.05 million in other areas.
For Indian applicants, the revised government filing fees are separate from the required capital investment, legal expenses and administrative charges levied by individual regional-centre projects.
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