USCIS Filing Fees and Fee Waivers (Form I-912)

USCIS charges a filing fee for most immigration forms, but the exact amount changes over time and varies by form and category. If you cannot afford a fee, you may be able to request that it be waived using Form I-912, Request for Fee Waiver - or, for certain humanitarian filings, no fee is required in the first place. This article explains how the fee system works, the three legal grounds for a fee waiver, which filings are generally eligible, and which fees a waiver cannot reach.

How USCIS fees work

USCIS publishes its current filing fees in an official fee schedule, Form G-1055, and offers an online fee calculator at uscis.gov. Fees are adjusted from time to time through federal rulemaking, and a 2025 federal law (H.R. 1, the reconciliation act signed in July 2025) added entirely new statutory fees to certain immigration forms that did not previously have one - including a fee tied to asylum applications and an added charge for Special Immigrant Juvenile petitions. Because these numbers change, this article does not quote a dollar figure for any form. Before you file anything, confirm the current fee for your specific form and category directly at uscis.gov/g-1055 or uscis.gov/feecalculator.

An important wrinkle from that 2025 law: the new fees it created are separate, freestanding statutory charges that cannot be waived or reduced, even if you qualify for a waiver of the rest of the filing fee. In practice, a single filing can sometimes have one fee component that is waiver-eligible (a DHS regulatory fee) and another component that must be paid regardless (an H.R. 1 statutory fee). If your form is affected, the USCIS instructions will tell you which portion, if any, remains open to a fee waiver request - and USCIS generally requires you to submit the non-waivable fee together with any fee waiver request for the waivable portion.

What Form I-912 does

Form I-912, Request for Fee Waiver, asks USCIS to excuse a filing fee because you are unable to pay it. There is no fee to file Form I-912 itself. USCIS evaluates every request under one of three grounds, and you only need to establish one of them:

1. Means-tested benefit

You, or a qualifying member of your household, currently receive a means-tested public benefit - a benefit whose eligibility and amount depend on income and financial resources. This can include certain federal, state, or local benefit programs. A parent may sometimes rely on a child's means-tested benefit if they live in the same household. You will generally need to document the specific benefit and the agency that grants it.

2. Household income at or below 150% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines

If your household income is at or below 150% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines (FPG), published annually by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, you may qualify on this basis. Because the FPG figures change every year and vary by household size and (for some purposes) state, do not rely on a number from a prior year - check the current guidelines published by HHS, or the version USCIS posts on its Poverty Guidelines page, and compare them to your household size and income at the time you file.

3. Extreme financial hardship

If you do not meet either of the above, you can still qualify by showing that paying the fee would cause extreme financial hardship - for example, because of a medical emergency, unusual debt, job loss, or other extraordinary circumstances. This basis generally requires the most detailed documentation: specific dollar amounts for income, expenses, debts, and the hardship itself, not just a general statement that you are struggling financially.

Which applications are eligible for a fee waiver

Not every USCIS form can receive a fee waiver, and the 2025 H.R. 1 law narrowed the field further by making several fees non-waivable. USCIS publishes and periodically updates the complete list of fee-waiver-eligible forms in the Form I-912 instructions and on its website. Forms that have commonly appeared on that list include naturalization applications (Form N-400), petitions to remove conditions on residence (Form I-751), certain waivers of inadmissibility, some employment authorization applications (outside the DACA category), and certain green card applications tied to categories such as asylee status, the Cuban Adjustment Act, the Haitian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act, or registry.

Two important limits to keep in mind:

• The 2025 law removed waiver eligibility for some categories. Fees that used to be waivable - including the initial Temporary Protected Status application fee and certain employment-authorization fees for asylum, parole, and TPS categories - were made non-waivable by H.R. 1. Do not assume a category is still waiver-eligible; verify it in the current instructions.
• DACA is excluded. USCIS does not accept a standard Form I-912 for a filing requesting Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals - a fee waiver is generally not available for DACA requests.

Because USCIS updates the eligible-forms list, always check the current Form I-912 instructions at uscis.gov/i-912 for the form you intend to file before assuming it qualifies.

Filings that historically required no fee at all

Separate from the fee waiver process, several humanitarian filings have traditionally been fee-exempt by design, meaning you do not need to request a waiver for the base form because no filing fee applies to it. These have generally included:

• Petitions for U nonimmigrant status for crime victims (Form I-918) and qualifying family member petitions filed with it
• Applications for T nonimmigrant status for trafficking victims (Form I-914) and related petitions
• VAWA self-petitions filed on Form I-360
• Applications for asylum (Form I-589) - historically fee-free

The 2025 H.R. 1 law changed part of this picture. It added a statutory filing fee for asylum applications (Form I-589), plus an annual fee for each year an asylum case remains pending, and it added a new fee for Special Immigrant Juvenile petitions (a category filed on Form I-360). These newer statutory charges are generally described as non-waivable, even where the base form itself historically carried no traditional filing fee. Because these rules are recent and still being implemented, check the current Form I-589 and I-360 instructions and the USCIS fee schedule for exactly what applies to your specific filing today, and confirm any payment deadlines.

What to do

1. Check the current fee first. Use the USCIS fee calculator or Form G-1055 to see the current fee(s) for your form, including whether any portion is a non-waivable statutory fee.
2. Confirm your form is fee-waiver eligible. Review the current Form I-912 instructions' eligible-forms list before assuming you can request a waiver.
3. Pick the strongest basis you can document - a means-tested benefit, income at or below 150% of the current FPG, or extreme financial hardship - and gather proof: benefit award letters, pay stubs, tax returns, medical bills, or a detailed written hardship statement with specific numbers.
4. Complete Form I-912 following the current instructions on uscis.gov, and submit it together with (or in the manner directed for) the underlying application or petition. If any part of your fee is a non-waivable H.R. 1 statutory fee, include that payment with your request.
5. Keep copies of everything you submit and any USCIS receipt or notice you receive.
6. If the waiver is denied, read the notice carefully. You may be given an opportunity to pay the fee, but any deadline tied to your underlying case keeps running - a denied fee waiver does not pause or extend your legal deadline.

Watch for hard deadlines

Requesting a fee waiver does not stop the clock on other immigration deadlines that may apply to your case - for example, the one-year filing deadline for most asylum applications, the 90-day window to file Form I-751 before a conditional green card expires, or deadlines to respond to a Request for Evidence or file an appeal or motion. Some of the newer statutory fees also carry their own payment deadlines: the 2025 law's annual asylum fee, for instance, must be paid on a recurring schedule while a case is pending, and missing it can lead USCIS to reject a pending application - so confirm the current payment window and method on uscis.gov. If a fee or fee waiver problem arises close to any of these deadlines, act immediately: pay the fee if you are able, or seek help right away. Missing a hard immigration deadline can have serious consequences, including denial of your case or loss of status.

Avoid notario and immigration-service fraud

Be cautious of "notarios," unlicensed consultants, or paid preparers who are not attorneys or federally accredited representatives. In many countries a "notario público" is a trained legal professional, but in the United States a notary public generally is not - and the unauthorized practice of immigration law can result in bad advice, lost fees, and serious harm to your case. Only a licensed immigration attorney or a representative accredited by the Department of Justice may charge for legal advice or representation in an immigration matter. You can verify accredited representatives and find free or low-cost legal aid through the EOIR list of recognized organizations and accredited representatives at justice.gov/eoir.

This article is general information, not legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Immigration fee, deadline, and eligibility rules change - always confirm current details directly with USCIS (uscis.gov), the immigration court system (justice.gov/eoir), or a qualified immigration attorney or DOJ-accredited representative before you file.