American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) has posted an ALERT to all of its members warning that USCIS could issue a new fee hike very soon. The alert states as follows:

"AILA alerts members that the USCIS Final Fee Rule could be published as a final rule within the next few weeks. The White House's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) received the final rule containing the new fees on Monday, January 8, 2024. Although OIRA typically has up to 90 days to complete its review, the Administration may prioritize finalizing this rule as it has been eight years since the last fee increase. USCIS has previously stated that a significant increase in immigration fees is necessary to more fully recover operating costs and better manage its workload. Based on past fee rules, once it is published in the Federal Register, it will likely take effect at least 60 days later.

As background, on January 4, 2023, USCIS issued a proposed rule on adjusting the fee schedule, which included increasing application fees by a 40% overall weighted average increase.

When the proposed rule was released, AILA and the American Immigration Council submitted a joint comment highlighting that employers would be required to pay more than:

AILA will publish additional information as it becomes available."