Foreign investor applicants using the EB-5 immigrant investor program will face higher filing fees and changes to certain application procedures under a new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) rule administered by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). The changes affect investor petitions, certain existing investors, and regional centers participating in the program.
The revised fees take effect on November 30, 2026. The EB-5 visa program allows eligible foreign investors to seek U.S. permanent residence by investing at least $1.05 million in a qualifying business, or $800,000 in a targeted employment area or infrastructure project, and creating at least 10 full-time jobs. USCIS, an immigration benefits agency, is largely funded by fees rather than congressional appropriations, and DHS said the changes are intended to recover the costs of administering the EB-5 program.
The changes come as the Trump administration has sought to exert greater control of legal immigration, including through changes to visa and green card programs. The higher fees will make this particular pathway to permanent residence more expensive, adding thousands of dollars in government fees for some applicants on top of the investment already required. Applications, petitions and requests postmarked on or after Nov. 30 must include the fees established by the new rule.
Filings postmarked before that date remain subject to the fee schedule in effect at the time they are sent. DHS estimates that the revised schedule will affect about 16,600 EB-5 filings annually. Across the nine existing forms covered by the rule, the department calculated a weighted average fee increase of about 70.7%, or approximately $2,946 per filing.
The individual increases will vary depending on the form and any additional charges that apply. The filing fee for Form I-526, used by a standalone EB-5 investor, will rise from $3,675 to $7,615. The new amount includes a $75 technology fee.
The technology charge is intended to support improvements to USCIS systems used to process, adjudicate, and archive EB-5 filings, according to the Federal Register notice. For a regional center investor filing Form I-526E, the initial filing fee will be $7,850, including the technology charge. The investor must also pay a separate EB-5 Integrity Fund fee, which will increase from $1,000 to $1,100.
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