What is the final USCIS pricing rule: its impact on US residency and citizenship in 2025

In January, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (Uscisfor its acronym in English) announced a final rule in which the new prices of your immigration procedures. Months later, the rates came into effect and these are the costs that would remain in 2025.

The USCIS announced the adjustments of certain rates of applications, a modification that had not been approved since 2016. The final rule allows the agency “to recover its operational costs more completely and enable the timely processing of new applications,” he explained in a statement.

The agency also noted that the changes in prices were the result of a comprehensive rate review, which concluded that the program was not sufficient to recover the full cost of the agency’s operations.

Prices under the final rule entered into force on April 1, 2024 and earlier editions of most forms were accepted during a grace period that ended June 3 of this year. Therefore, currently and for next year, only updated formats with current prices are accepted.

The costs that were published as a final rule and took effect in April, are the same ones that will apply for 2025. That is, they are changes that do impact the immigration procedures of next year.

The application of this measure seeks to reduce the required amount of annual cost recovery from USCIS by almost 730 million dollars, when considering the budgetary effects of the efficiency measures. They also established special discounts for nonprofit organizations and small business employers.

The rule expands fee waivers for Special Immigrant Youth and victims of human trafficking, crime and domestic violence; US military service members and Afghan allies; as well as families seeking international adoptions.

In turn, the measure allows applications for Employment Authorization Documents (EAD) at half price for permanent resident adjustment of status applicants, who receive a green card, and a reduced fee for applicants under 14 years of age.

Eligibility for a 50% reduction in rates for requests naturalizationavailable to individuals who can demonstrate household income between 150% and 400% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines, and a standard $50 discount is implemented for individuals who apply online.