US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has finalised sweeping fee increases for the EB-5 immigrant-investor programme, more than doubling the cost of several key petitions, with the revised fee structure set to take effect on 30 November 2026. The changes are expected to significantly raise the financial burden on Indian applicants pursuing permanent residence in the United States through investment.

Key Fee Changes at a Glance

The filing fee for Form I-526, used by standalone investors, will climb from $3,675 to $7,615 — a jump of over 107%. The fee for an initial Form I-526E petition, used by investors participating through an approved regional centre, rises from $3,675 to $7,850. Both I-526 and I-526E petitions will additionally carry a new $75 technology fee.

The fee for Form I-829 — filed by investors seeking to remove conditions on their permanent resident status — will increase from $3,750 to $5,000. A brand-new form, Form I-527, has also been introduced for certain investors seeking to amend older I-526 petitions, carrying a filing fee of $10,330.

Regional Centres Face Steeper Hikes

The sharpest increases fall on regional centres themselves. The fee for an initial Form I-956 application seeking regional-centre designation will surge from $17,795 to $44,115. The charge for Form I-956F, used to seek approval of an investment in a commercial enterprise, will rise to $42,675. In a rare exception, the annual fee for Form I-956G will actually fall, from $3,035 to $2,165.

The annual EB-5 Integrity Fund payment will increase from $10,000 to $11,000 for regional centres with 20 or fewer investors, and from $20,000 to $22,000 for larger ones. Late-payment penalties have also been introduced: a regional centre paying in November after the deadline faces a 10% penalty, rising to 20% for December payments, with possible termination for continued non-compliance.

Why USCIS Is Raising Fees

USCIS cited the need to ensure fees fully cover the cost of operating the EB-5 programme, meet statutory processing targets and bolster programme integrity. The agency is largely financed through application and petition fees rather than direct taxpayer appropriations, meaning those who use the immigration system bear its operating costs.

The revised schedule was released for public inspection on Tuesday and is formally due for publication in the Federal Register on Wednesday. The changes flow from the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022, which directed USCIS to conduct a separate cost study and set fees sufficient to recover full programme administration expenses. That law also established processing goals and expanded oversight of regional centres, promoters and investment projects — including audits, compliance reviews, site visits and anti-fraud measures.

What Indian Applicants Need to Know

Congress created the EB-5 programme in 1990 to channel foreign capital into the US economy and generate jobs. Qualifying investors — along with their spouses and eligible children — may obtain conditional permanent residence by investing in an American commercial enterprise and meeting minimum job-creation requirements.

The programme generally requires a capital investment of $800,000 in a targeted employment area or qualifying infrastructure project, or $1.05 million elsewhere. For Indian applicants — who represent one of the largest pools of EB-5 petitioners — the new government filing charges come on top of those capital requirements, plus legal fees and administrative charges levied by individual regional-centre projects, making the total outlay substantially higher. Notably, this is the first major EB-5 fee revision since the 2022 reform law reshaped the programme, and it arrives amid ongoing regulatory tightening of investor-immigration routes globally.

With the effective date set for 30 November 2026, prospective investors and regional centres have approximately two months to assess the impact and, where eligible, file under the current fee schedule.