Original Date Announced

On July 4, 2025, President Trump signed into law H.R. 1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), as Public Law Number 119-21. The law established a suite of new fees to be collected by the Department of Homeland Security (USCIS and ICE) and the Department of Justice (EOIR) for various purposes and eliminated the ability for fee waivers and reductions for many such fees.

New (or higher) fees were established for, among other things: applications for asylum; Employment Authorization Documents; parole; Temporary Protected Status (TPS); Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS); Form I-94 Arrival/Departure Record; adjustment of status; waivers of inadmissibility grounds; suspension of deportation and LPR and non-LPR cancellation of removal.

New fees were also created for, among other things: visa integrity; the renewal or extension of work authorization for parolees, TPS holders, and asylum applicants; appealing an Immigration Judge decision to the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA); appealing a decision by a DHS officer; being arrested by ICE after receiving an in absentia removal order; being apprehended between the ports of entry while being inadmissible.

Implementation notices for each new fee will be tracked as subsequent notices in this entry and also as individual policy entries that will be related to this entry.

Trump 2.0 [ID# 2032]

Subsequent Trump and Court Action

EOIR PM 25-35

EOIR Acting Director Sirce Owen issued Policy Memorandum ("PM") 25-35, "Statutory Fees Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act." to implement the July 4, 2025 reconciliation bill, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), which made several changes to immigration-related fees. This PM updated PM 21‑10 to reflect new OBBA fee schedules, including a $100 filing fee for asylum application, a $100 annual fee to maintain pending asylum case, and other fees for appeals and motions before EOIR. It also prohibited certain fees from being waived or reduced including the initial asylum application fee, the annual asylum fee, and the TPS fee.

EOIR PM 25-35

Subsequent Trump and Court Action

EOIR PM 25-36

EOIR Acting Director Sirce Owen issued Policy Memorandum ("PM") 25-36, "Statutory Fees Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act." The PM supersedes and replaces the recently issued PM 25-35, "Statutory Fees Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act," to clarify certain points for adjudicators about changes under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act ("OBBBA"). PM 25-36 explains how EOIR is implementing immediately new immigration fees and making fee waiver changes pursuant to the OBBBA. The memo points out that any EOIR's regulations on fees are superseded by the legislation, and rulemaking will follow.

The memo re-emphasizes the policy that EOIR has a statutory authority to "set fees to ensure full cost recovery." First, there are now new fees implemented or increased by the OBBBA relating to EOIR proceedings and BIA appeals are in addition to other fees authorized by law. This includes the new fee requirement for initial asylum applications and annual fees for each year the application is pending. Second, the OBBBA does not affect the validity of EOIR’s fee waiver request form, and that the guidance contained in PM 21-10 regarding practices for the adjudication of fee waiver requests remains valid. However, certain fees cannot be waived or reduced -- specifically, the initial asylum application fee, the annual asylum fee, and the Temporary Protected Status fee. Third, fees can be increased further, and EOIR will continue to review its fees on at least a biennial basis, if not more frequently, to determine whether any further fee adjustments are warranted. This will include any annual inflation adjustment.

Finally, the PM lists the new fees, effective immediately, that EOIR will charge for applications for relief, protection from removal, appeals, and motions.

In summary, on July 9, 2025, EOIR issued PM 25-35 as guidance that interpreted the OBBA listed fee amounts as being the complete EOIR-related fees, but on July 17, 2025, EOIR issued the subsequent PM 25-36, which adds the OBBA fees to previously existing fee amounts, therefore making them more expensive. The EOIR webpage titled “Types of Appeals, Motions, and Required Fees” and the “EOIR Forms” webpage now also calculate the fees based on the OBBA fee added to existing fees, rather than just the OBBA fee.

Subsequent Trump and Court Action

2025.07.22 Instructions for USCIS Form I-912 - Request for Fee Waiver

USCIS updates the instructions for Form I-912, Request for Fee Waiver, as a result of the enactment of H.R. 1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) on July 4, 2025.

The form itself remains unchanged from the prior version that was released on April 1, 2024. The instructions to Form I-912 were updated to state that fees required by the OBBBA are non-waivable; to replace "noncitizen" with "alien"; and to reflect that the fee for a Petition for CNMI-Only Nonimmigrant Transitional Worker (Form I-129CW) filed for a CW-1 may be waivable under certain conditions.

Subsequent Trump and Court Action

2025.07.22 90 Fed. Reg. 34511 - USCIS Immigration Fees Required by HR-1 Reconciliation Bill

USCIS published a notice in the Federal Register implementing a series of new immigration fees to be collected for various adjudicatory activities and applications made by immigrants. These fees include applications for an Asylum Employment Authorization Document ("EAD"), a parolee EAD, a Temporary Protected Status EAD, a new Temporary Protected Status fee, a Special Immigrant Juvenile statute ("SIJs") Fee, an Annual Asylum Fee ("AAF"), and provides for fee adjustments pursuant to inflation.

No fee waivers are available for any of the new OBBBA fees, including the new SIJs fee (even though the statute did not explicitly say that no fee waiver is available for that fee).

USCIS announced that it will "begin collecting the filing fees for fiscal year 2025 for any immigration benefit requests postmarked on or after July 22, 2025," and that "requests postmarked on or after August 21, 2025, without the proper filing fee will be rejected."

Subsequent Trump and Court Action

2025.09.08 90 FR 43223 Certain DHS Immigration Enforcement-Related Fees Required by HR-1

DHS and ICE published a notice in the Federal Register implementing certain immigration enforcement-related fees required by the OBBBA. The fees implemented in this notice are for (1) noncitizens who are ordered removed in absentia pursuant to INA 240(b)(5) and are subsequently arrested by ICE; and (2) inadmissible noncitizens who are apprehended between ports of entry.

Subsequent Trump and Court Action

2025.10.03 Complaint ASAP v. USCIS

The Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project (ASAP) filed a lawsuit against USCIS and EOIR in D.Md challenging the retroactive and unclear implementation of the new annual asylum fee recently mandated by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). ASAP seeks emergency preliminary relief 1) barring USCIS and EOIR from requiring asylum seekers who filed their applications on or before July 4, 2025 to pay the annual asylum fee while this litigation is pending, 2) setting aside USCIS’s and EOIR’s unlawful interpretations of the OBBBA, and ordering EOIR to provide clear instructions pursuant to which applicants can pay the annual asylum fee and refrain from penalizing applicants for nonpayment until it gives them notice and a reasonable opportunity to pay. ASAP v. USCIS, 1:25-cv-03299 (D.Md).

**Link to case here. Litigation entries are limited to initial complaints and major substantive rulings. For pleadings and additional information, use name and docket number to search Civil Rights Clearinghouse and CourtListener or visit Just Security Litigation Tracker.**

Subsequent Trump and Court Action

2025.10.07 Motion for Preliminary Injunction - ASAP v. USCIS

ASAP filed a Motion for a Preliminary Injunction seeking emergency relief to prevent the dismissal or denial of asylum claims based on non-payment of the new annual asylum fee. The Motion alleges that asylum applicants face irreparable harm from severe immigration consequences and economic harm.

Some immigration judges (IJs) have started to require asylum applicants to pay the fee despite there being no mechanism to pay. In at least one instance, an IJ rejected an applicant's asylum application and ordered the applicant removed for non-payment.

ASAP seeks a stay under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and a temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction that "(1) forbids USCIS and EOIR from imposing the annual asylum fee retroactively; and (2) orders both agencies to reinstate the applications of any ASAP members whose applications have been rejected for nonpayment." In the alternative, ASAP asks the Court to prevent EOIR from taking adverse action against asylum applicants until EOIR "has provided a functioning mechanism to collect the fee and a reasonable opportunity for applicants to pay." ASAP v. USCIS, 1:25-cv-03299 (D. Md).

**Link to case here. See litigation note above**

Subsequent Trump and Court Action

2025.10.16 DHS - Immigration Parole Fee Required by HR-1 Reconciliation Bill

DHS published a notice in the Federal Register implementing the fee on immigration parole applications established in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). The OBBBA imposes a $1,000 parole fee on “any alien who is paroled into the United States who does not meet an exception” enumerated in the statute. Parole is interpreted by DHS to include parole under INA § 212(d)(5)(A) and includes paroles granted at ports of entry, parole-in-place, re-parole, and parole from DHS custody. DHS states that the fee attaches to the grant and effectuation of parole, rather than the filing of an application or request. As a result, the fee applies to any noncitizen who has a request for parole filed or pending prior to the effective date of October 16, 2025.