On September 30, 2026, USCIS announced its yearly inflation adjustment to the immigration fees created by H.R. 1, the law known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” The new amounts take effect on October 16, 2026 and apply to any filing postmarked on or after that date.

The increases themselves are modest, from $3 to $30. The bigger risk is procedural: a filing sent with the old amount after the deadline will be rejected, and for some applicants a rejection can mean a missed deadline that is much harder to fix than a fee.

H.R. 1, signed in July 2025, created a set of new statutory fees tied mostly to humanitarian programs: asylum, parole, Temporary Protected Status (TPS), and the work permits that go with them. The law also requires USCIS to adjust many of those fees each year based on the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U).

Between July 2025 and July 2026, the CPI-U rose about 3.36%. The adjusted amounts are rounded down, which is why some fees moved and others did not. The notice is scheduled for publication in the Federal Register on October 1, 2026.

This adjustment applies only to the H.R. 1 fees. It is not a general USCIS fee increase.

Several H.R. 1 fees will not change on October 16, either because the inflation increase was absorbed by rounding or because the law does not call for an annual adjustment:

Fee	Amount
Asylum application fee (Form I-589)	$100
Work permit renewal or extension for parolees	$280
Work permit renewal or extension for TPS	$280
Re-parole work permit	$280
Work permit renewal or extension for asylum applicants (not subject to annual adjustment)	$275
Special Immigrant Juvenile fee (Form I-360)	$250
Form I-94 fee	$24

The date that matters is the postmark. A paper filing postmarked on or after October 16, 2026 must include the new fee. One postmarked before October 16 can still be filed at the current amount, even if USCIS receives it a few days later.

Sending the wrong amount does not lead to a denial. It leads to a rejection: the package comes back, and as far as USCIS is concerned it was never filed. That can cause real damage when timing matters, for example:

• Asylum seekers — who are racing the one-year filing deadline.
• TPS applicants — who must register or re-register within a set window.
• Work permit holders — for whom a rejected renewal can mean a gap in employment authorization.

I mailed my application on October 14, but USCIS received it on October 20. Which fee applies?
The postmark controls. A filing postmarked before October 16, 2026 can be submitted with the current fee.

What if my application is rejected for the wrong fee?
You will need to refile with the correct amount. Your filing date becomes the date of the new, accepted submission, which can matter a great deal if you were up against a deadline.

Does this change the fees for green cards, citizenship, or family petitions?
No. This adjustment covers only the fees created by H.R. 1, which are mostly tied to asylum, parole, TPS, and related work permits.

Will these fees go up again?
Most likely. The law requires an inflation adjustment every year, so the amounts will be recalculated again for fiscal year 2028.

A fee change this small should never cost anyone their case. If you are preparing an asylum application, a TPS registration, a parole request, or a work permit, the next two weeks are the time to make sure everything is complete, correctly paid, and filed on time.

At Keller Law Group, LLC, we help individuals and families prepare and file humanitarian and employment-related applications correctly the first time, so a technical mistake does not turn into a lost filing date.

Schedule a consultation today.
Keller Law Group, LLC
Phone: (857) 810-8040
Email: info@kellerimmigration.com

USCIS Alert: https://www.uscis.gov/newsroom/alerts/uscis-announces-fy-2027-inflation-increase-for-certain-immigration-related-fees