The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will change U.S. EB-5 investor and regional-center filing fees Nov. 30, shifting more of the program’s projected costs to applicants and centers.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will use the new schedule for filings postmarked Nov. 30, 2026, or later, under a DHS final rule. DHS estimates about 16,600 EB-5 form filings will be affected each year. Across nine existing categories, it projects a weighted average increase of 70.7%, or $2,945.90 per filing, though individual fees will move in different directions.
For a standalone investor, the Form I-526 fee will rise from $3,675 to $7,615. The initial Form I-526E fee for a regional-center investor will be $7,850, including a $75 technology charge. A separate $1,100 EB-5 Integrity Fund fee brings the listed fees for an initial I-526E petition to $8,950. An I-526E amendment will cost $7,775. The Form I-829 fee, for removing conditions on permanent-resident status, will increase from $3,750 to $5,000.
DHS is also creating Form I-527, priced at $10,330, for certain investors who filed Form I-526 before the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 and later need to amend their petitions after a regional-center termination or the debarment of a new commercial enterprise or job-creating entity. USCIS will preserve the investor’s original priority date for an I-527 filing.
Initial regional-center designation through Form I-956 will cost $44,115, up from $17,795. Form I-956F, for commercial-enterprise investment approval, will rise from $17,795 to $42,675. By contrast, an I-956 amendment will drop from $17,795 to $9,835, and the annual Form I-956G statement fee will fall from $3,035 to $2,165. Forms I-956H and I-956K, previously without filing charges, will cost $65 and $2,165. Annual regional-center Integrity Fund fees will increase from $10,000 to $11,000 for centers with 20 or fewer investors and from $20,000 to $22,000 for larger centers. DHS says it moved regional-center termination costs into initial I-956 and I-956F filings, helping explain those higher charges. Filers pay the applicable fees, while I-956 amendment applicants will pay less under the revised schedule.
DHS’s program-specific cost study, required by the 2022 law, projects average annual costs of $105 million and average annual revenue of $56.6 million under current fees for fiscal 2026 and 2027, leaving an average annual gap of $48.4 million. The EB-5 program offers eligible investors a path to U.S. permanent-resident status. Its standard minimum investment is $1.05 million, or $800,000 for a targeted employment area or infrastructure project, and the investment must create at least 10 full-time jobs.
