The U.S. immigration court — the EOIR (Executive Office for Immigration Review), an agency of the Department of Justice — announced on September 29, 2026 an adjustment to the fees for several forms filed with the court starting October 1, 2026. The increase is 3.4%, calculated using the CPI-U inflation index, and applies for fiscal year 2027. If you have a case in immigration court and will be submitting one of these forms, the amount changes as early as next week.
What happened?
Every year, the EOIR applies an automatic inflation adjustment to the fees created by the federal law known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (Public Law 119-21). For fiscal year 2027, the update was 3.4%, based on the change in the CPI-U between July 2025 and July 2026, with amounts rounded down. This is the second round of EOIR fee adjustments for fiscal year 2027: an earlier update had already adjusted other court fees, and now it's the turn of DHS forms filed within a court proceeding. These fees are charged when the form is filed in immigration court — and should not be confused with the fee USCIS charges for the same form outside of court.
Which forms and what amounts are changing?
According to the EOIR, these are the amounts that take effect on October 1, 2026:
The initial asylum application on Form I-589 remains at $100; what's increasing is the annual asylum fee, from $102 to $105. The other forms — I-485, I-601, and I-821 — have adjustments ranging from $10 to $50, according to the Federal Register table.
Who is affected?
The adjustment affects anyone filing these forms within an immigration court proceeding starting October 1. In practice, this applies to people who are in proceedings before the EOIR and need to submit one of these applications to the immigration judge. Anyone filing the same form directly with USCIS, outside of court, follows the USCIS fee schedule, which is separate and has its own amounts. So knowing where the form will be filed — in court or with USCIS — is what determines which fee you pay.
What's the next date and what should you do?
The date is October 1, 2026: the announced fees take effect that day. If you have a form to file with the court, here are the steps to follow:
- Confirm with whoever is preparing your documents whether the form will be filed with the immigration court (EOIR) or with USCIS — the fee schedule differs in each case.
- Check the updated amount for your form in the table above before October 1.
- Set aside payment for the new amount if filing takes place on or after that date.
To keep up with the rest of this month's changes, see the summary of immigration in September 2026 and the official ICE numbers for fiscal year 2026. More content on forms and deadlines is available on the Prime blog.
Sources
Educational information, not legal advice. Prime Immigration Office is a paralegal service — document preparation only. For legal advice, consult a licensed Texas attorney or DOJ-accredited representative.