In a recent announcement made on May 29, 2007, USCIS revealed a new fee schedule that will be effective starting July 30, 2007. The new schedule stipulates steep increases in filing fees for most applications, with the average rate of increase hovering around 66%. It should be further noted that the actual fee increase in some immigration categories could be significantly higher in practice than they initially appear. For example, the application fee for the I-140 petition has been adjusted from $195 to $475, and the application fee for I-485 has been adjusted from $325 to $1010 (including biometrics fee) for adults and $600 for those under 14.

We believe the new increased fees create heavy financial burdens for some immigrants, acting in theory as a form of tax on applicants applying for immigrant benefits. Early this year, during the 60 day public comment period ending on April 2, Zhang & Associates created an online advocacy webpage to help raise awareness in general and also to provide a medium for those affected to voice their concerns about the planned fee increase. Regrettably, despite our collective efforts, USCIS has still decided to implement the new fee schedule. The claim is that the new fees will improve service quality and shorten processing times.

As of right now, there are two months left before the new fee schedule takes effect. For those who have already retained Zhang & Associates for your cases, we suggest you expedite preparation of your petition to avoid the bulk of the imminent fee hikes. We here at Zhang & Associates will of course do our utmost in helping you to file your case prior to the institution of the new schedule.

For those who have not decided yet to submit immigration petitions, we strongly suggest starting now if you are qualified. Given the situation where you are not sure if you are qualified or ready, we suggest you consult our experienced attorneys.

Although it takes time to prepare complex immigration petitions such as the NIW and EB-1 cases, the two months available still allow petitioners enough time to assemble the necessary documents. If one is able to gather supporting application materials quickly, we will expedite our work and strive to file your case before the upcoming deadline.

For those petitioners who were not Chinese or Indian born, visa numbers are current for EB-2 cases including NIWs. These petitioners may file an I-485 petition at any time along with his or her I-140. For the readers who fall into this category, we suggest that you submit your I-485 petition as soon as possible.

If you are filing an immigration petition in the EB-1 category, immigrant visa numbers are immediately available regardless of citizenship. Thus, in order to avoid the vast fee increases, it is immensely beneficial to file your I-485 petition as early as possible.

The attorneys and supporting staff at Zhang & Associates care deeply for our clients and wish to help as much as we could. As such, we urge you to file with all due expediency in order to avoid the potentially daunting USCIS fees.

Zhang & Associates, P.C.
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