There are new fees for asylum applications and work permits

Read below to learn about new annual asylum fees at USCIS and new annual asylum fees in immigration court, as well as new fees for initial asylum applications, for work permits based on asylum, for TPS applications, for work permits based on parole, and how to pay fees.

Annual Asylum Fee - USCIS

USCIS is now charging an annual asylum fee of $102. If your asylum application has been pending for more than 1 year, USCIS can charge the annual asylum fee at any time. They should give you 30 days to pay. 

What will happen if you do not pay the annual asylum fee on time:

• If you do not pay your fee within 30 days, USCIS says that it will immediately reject your asylum application, cancel your work permit, and reject any pending work permit applications based on seeking asylum. If you do not have other valid immigration status, USCIS may begin proceedings to deport you.

• USCIS says it will take these steps after May 29, 2026.

How to check if your annual asylum fee is due to USCIS: 

• To check whether your fee is due, go to this USCIS payment website. Enter your A number and the receipt number from your asylum application receipt. 

  • If your fee is due, the website should proceed to the next page, and you should see a blue “Pay and Submit” button. 

  • If your fee is not due, you should see this alert at the top of the page: “At this time, the Annual Asylum Fee payment is not due for this case. USCIS will issue a notice the first time the Annual Asylum Fee is due.” 

• USCIS is also supposed to send you a notice with a deadline to pay the annual asylum fee in 30 days. But some people have not received a notice, and only learned that their fee is due by checking the USCIS annual fee website. 

• It is a good idea to check the website once a week just in case.

How to pay the annual asylum fee to USCIS: 

• Go to this USCIS payment website.

• Enter your A Number and the receipt number from your asylum application receipt.

• If your case is ready for payment, the website should proceed to the next page, and you will see a blue “Pay and Submit” button. Click on the button.

• You can pay the fee by providing your credit card, debit card, or U.S. bank account information at the end of the online application. If you do not have a credit or debit card, you can also use cash to buy a pre-paid card at many large stores. Be sure to leave enough money on the card to cover the fee.

• After you enter your bank account or card information, next you should see a screen with an “Agency Tracking ID.” Save this number for your records now or take a screenshot. The Agency Tracking ID could be useful to prove you paid, and this is the only time it will be shown on the screen. It will not appear after you submit your payment.

• Check the box at the bottom and click “Continue” to submit your payment. 

• Once you have successfully submitted your payment, you should see a screen that says you successfully paid your annual asylum fee. 

• USCIS says they will send a receipt either in your USCIS online account or by mail.

• If you have already paid the annual asylum fee once, you will likely need to pay it again each year that your asylum case is still open.

If you previously received a USCIS annual asylum fee notice and did not pay yet: 

• If you previously received an annual asylum fee notice from USCIS and you have not yet paid the fee, you should still be able to pay now on this USCIS website.  

• USCIS says that, on or after May 29, 2026, they will send new notices to people who have not paid. The new, updated notice is supposed to include a new 30-day payment deadline. According to USCIS, you will have a new 30-day window to pay before they reject your asylum application and cancel your work permit. 

• However, we do not know what will happen in practice after May 29. If your USCIS asylum case is still open, it is likely safer to pay the annual asylum fee as soon as possible if you can.

How much is the annual asylum fee: 

• The annual asylum fee is currently set to $102. It is not possible to apply for a fee waiver.

• The government will only charge one annual asylum fee per asylum application (Form I-589) that was submitted. For example, if a single asylum application includes a family of four, the overall fee would be $102. It would not be $408. 

• The government says it will not charge the annual asylum fee for applications that have been pending for less than one year. 

• If an application has already been pending for more than one year, the government will charge a maximum of $102, which will cover all previous years that the application has been pending. The government will not charge additional fees for past years that your application has been pending. For example, if an asylum application has been pending for 5 years, the annual asylum fee for the year would be $102. It would not be $510. 

• However, in the future, the government does plan to charge asylum applicants an annual asylum fee once per year, as long as their asylum application remains pending.

• If you received an annual asylum fee notice in 2025 with the amount of $100, it is possible that you will still see a fee amount of $100 when you go to pay your fee on USCIS’s website. You can pay the fee amount that is displayed on the page.

Annual Asylum Fee - Immigration Court 

Immigration courts are now charging an annual asylum fee of $102. If your asylum application has been pending for more than 1 year, an immigration judge can charge the annual asylum fee at any time.

What will happen if you do not pay the annual asylum fee in immigration court on time: 

• If you do not pay the fee by the deadline that the immigration judge sets in your case, the judge will probably deny or dismiss your asylum application.

Who needs to pay the annual asylum fee in immigration court: 

• If a judge tells you to pay the annual asylum fee or you get a written order, pay before the deadline if you can. The deadline can be as little as 1 day. If you do not pay the fee by the deadline, the immigration judge will probably deny or dismiss your asylum case.

• Check your mailbox, email, and any immigration court online accounts regularly for the order. You may also receive an order if your case is on appeal.

• Even if you have not received an order, you can pay the fee now, if you can afford to and if your asylum case has been pending for more than 1 year. Read more below on how to give proof of payment to the immigration court. 

• Please note: Previously, the annual asylum fee was paused because of a lawsuit filed by ASAP members. But the annual asylum fee is no longer paused.

How to pay the annual asylum fee in immigration court:

• To pay the annual asylum fee, go to this immigration court website, enter your A Number, and select the option that says “Court - Form I-589, Annual Asylum Fee for Asylum and for Withholding of Removal (AAF).”

• Save a copy of the receipt and your Payment Tracking ID for your records. You can submit a copy of the receipt to immigration court, and bring a copy of the receipt to your next immigration court hearing.   

• If you did not save a copy of your receipt, you can access it later by entering your A Number and Payment Tracking ID on this receipt webpage.

  • If you do not know your Payment Tracking ID, you can access the ID for 20 days after you made the payment by going back to this payment webpage, entering your A number, and again choosing “Court - Form I-589, Annual Asylum Fee for Asylum and for Withholding of Removal (AAF)” for filing type.

  • If more than 20 days have passed, the immigration court says you can try contacting your court to request the Payment Tracking ID.

• You can also watch this video about how to pay the annual asylum fee in immigration court.

How to give the immigration court proof that you paid the fee:

• The immigration court system has not said whether you need to take additional steps after paying the annual asylum fee. However, to be sure that the immigration judge knows you have paid, we recommend submitting proof of payment to the immigration court. If the court gave you a deadline to pay the fee on an order like this one, provide this payment receipt before that deadline.

• If possible, provide a copy of your receipt to the immigration judge and a second copy to the government attorney. You can do so by mail, in person at your next court hearing, or at the filing windows of your immigration court and government attorney’s office. Also keep a copy for yourself.

• There are currently no rules about how to submit proof of payment, but here is a possible example you can use.

  • To find the address of your immigration court and date and time of your next hearing, you can enter your A number on this website: acis.eoir.justice.gov/en/ or at this automated phone line: 1-800-898-7180. You can try both.

  • To find the address of the government attorney (OPLA) for your immigration court, you can use this website: www.ice.gov/contact/field-offices. Choose the state where your immigration court is located, select "Office of the Principal Legal Advisor," and click "Apply" to filter your search.

If you previously paid the annual asylum fee to immigration court: 

• If you have already paid the annual asylum fee once, you will likely need to pay it again each year that your asylum case is still open. We are not sure whether the court is required to send you a written order each time. To be safe, you can plan to pay the fee every year and follow the same steps: save your proof of payment and give a copy to the court.

• If you previously tried to pay the annual asylum fee to the immigration courts in a different way, for example by paying the initial asylum fee, the government says that it will credit these advance payments. But the government did not explain how this process would work or who can rely on it. You can try to follow the instructions above to submit a copy of your receipt to the immigration court.

How much is the annual asylum fee: 

• The annual asylum fee for immigration court is $102, as of February 1, 2026. It is not possible to apply for a fee waiver.

• The government will only charge one annual asylum fee per asylum application (Form I-589) that was submitted. For example, if a single asylum application includes a family of four, the overall fee would be $102. It would not be $408. The immigration courts have now explained this on this webpage.

• The government says it will not charge the annual asylum fee for applications that have been pending for less than one year. 

• If an application has already been pending for more than one year, the government will charge a maximum of $102, which will cover all previous years that the application has been pending. The government will not charge additional fees for past years that your application has been pending. For example, if an asylum application has been pending for 5 years, the annual asylum fee for the year would be $102. It would not be $510. 

• However, in the future, the government does plan to charge asylum applicants the annual asylum fee once each year, as long as their asylum application remains pending.  

If you have appealed your case to the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA):

• The government has said that it will also charge the annual asylum fee for cases on appeal at the BIA, if you applied for asylum more than one year ago.

• If you are required to pay the annual asylum fee, the government should send an order similar to this one, except that it should say “Board of Immigration Appeals” instead of the name of an immigration court.

• Even if you have not yet received an order telling you to pay the annual asylum fee, you can still try to pay the fee now if you choose.

• To pay the annual asylum fee if your case is at the BIA, you can go to this immigration court website and enter your A Number. There is currently no option on the menu specifically to pay the annual asylum fee to the BIA. However, to try to pay the fee, you can select “Court - Form I-589, Annual Asylum Fee for Asylum and for Withholding of Removal (AAF)” as if your case was still in immigration court. We believe that the BIA should credit this payment if a specific option to pay the BIA annual asylum fee later becomes available. However, the government has not specifically confirmed that. 

• Save a copy of the receipt and your Payment Tracking ID for your records. If you lose your receipt, you can contact the BIA at (703) 605-1007.

• You can then use this example to mail proof to the BIA that you paid the annual asylum fee. Make 2 copies.

  • Mail the original to:

    Board of Immigration Appeals
    Office of the Chief Clerk
    5107 Leesburg Pike, Suite 2000
    Falls Church, VA 22041

  • Mail one copy to the address of the government attorney office (OPLA) for the immigration court where your case was before you appealed. You can use this website to find the address: www.ice.gov/contact/field-offices. Choose the state where your immigration court is located, select "Office of the Principal Legal Advisor," and click "Apply" to filter your search.

  • Keep one copy for yourself.

Asylum Applications - Initial Filing Fee

It now costs $100 to submit a new asylum application. It is not possible to apply for a fee waiver. Before this change, there were no fees to apply for asylum.

The fee should be $100 per asylum application (Form I-589), not $100 per person. For example, if you include your spouse or children in your application, the fee should be $100 total for the entire family. But if each family member files their own separate Form I-589, each person must pay the $100 fee.

The details of how to pay the fee depend on whether you are applying for asylum in immigration court or with USCIS. 

Filing a new asylum application with USCIS: 

• Starting on July 22, 2025, it costs $100 to submit a new asylum application to USCIS. This fee is the same whether you are applying online or by mail. 

• If you are submitting your asylum application online, you can pay the filing fee at the end of the online application. If you are submitting your asylum application by mail, you can include the fee in the same envelope. Learn more about how to pay.

• If you do not pay the fee, USCIS says it will reject your asylum application and return it.

Filing a new asylum application in immigration court: 

• Starting on or shortly after July 4, 2025, it costs $100 to submit a new asylum application to immigration court. But there was no way to pay this fee in immigration court until September 23, 2025. 

• Before you submit your new asylum application to immigration court, pay the $100 fee on this immigration court website. Enter your A Number, and select “Court - I-589, Application for Asylum (Initial Filing).”

• After you pay, save a copy of the receipt and your Payment Tracking ID for your records. 

• Print the receipt showing that you paid the fee and include it with your asylum application when you submit it. If you do not include the receipt showing that you paid the asylum fee, the immigration court may reject your asylum application. Learn more about filing your asylum application.

• If you did not save a copy of your receipt, you can access it later by entering your A Number and Payment Tracking ID on this receipt webpage. If you do not know your Payment Tracking ID, you can access it for 20 days after you made the payment by going back to this payment webpage, entering your A number, and again choosing “Court - I-589, Application for Asylum (Initial Fee)” for filing type. If more than 20 days have passed, the immigration court says you can try contacting your court to request the Payment Tracking ID.

• You can also watch this video about how to pay the initial asylum fee in immigration court.

• If you applied for asylum in immigration court between July 4 and September 22, 2025, read more below.

What if you applied for asylum in immigration court between July 4 and September 22, 2025? 

• Between July 4, 2025 and September 22, 2025, there was no way to pay the initial asylum application fee in immigration court. The immigration court acknowledged that there was no way to pay in this document (footnote 7). Then, on September 23, it announced a way to pay in this document. 

• If you tried to submit your asylum application between July 4-September 22, 2025 and it was rejected for not paying the fee, you can pay the fee now (watch this video for instructions) and submit your asylum application again with a copy of the receipt. See instructions here. You can include a short letter explaining how you previously tried to submit your asylum application and how you paid the fee as soon as possible after the immigration court created a method of payment.

• If you successfully submitted your asylum application between July 4 - September 22, we do not know if the immigration court will require you to pay the fee by a certain time. But to be on the safe side, you can pay the fee now (watch this video for instructions) and submit copies of the receipt to the immigration court and the government attorney. You can use this example. To find the address of your immigration court and date and time of your next hearing, you can enter your A number on this website or call 1-800-898-7180. To find the address of the government attorney (OPLA) for your immigration court, you can use this website. Choose the state where your immigration court is located, select "Office of the Principal Legal Advisor," and click "Apply" to filter your search.

Work permits for asylum seekers 

Initial work permits: It costs $560 to apply for a first work permit as an asylum seeker. Learn how to pay the fee.

Renewal work permits: Starting on July 22, 2025, the cost to renew your work permit as an asylum seeker increased by $275. If you are renewing your work permit online, it now costs a total of $745. If you are renewing your work permit by mail, it now costs a total of $795. Learn how to pay the fee. 

Replacement work permits: The fee to replace a lost, stolen, or damaged work permit has not changed. Applying to replace your work permit costs $470 online or $520 by mail. Learn how to pay the fee.

What if you pay the wrong fee: If you pay the wrong fee, USCIS says it will reject your work permit application and return it.

Can you request a fee waiver: It is not possible to request a fee waiver for an initial work permit. For a renewal work permit, it is still possible to request a fee waiver, but only for a portion of the total. For replacement of a lost, stolen, or damaged work permit, it is possible to request a fee waiver for the full amount.

TPS and TPS-based work permits 

Starting on July 22, 2025, the fee to apply for TPS for the first time increased. The fee also increased to apply for a work permit based on approved TPS or a pending TPS application.

• First time TPS registration: $540. 

• Initial work permit: $1080 (if applying by mail) or $1030 (if applying online). 

• Renewal work permit: $800 (if applying by mail) or $750 (if applying online).

• You can pay the fee at the same time as you submit your application. Learn how to pay the fee.

Another change is that work permits based on approved TPS or a pending TPS application will only be valid for one year, or until the expiration date of the TPS – whichever is shorter. (But if you had already received your work permit before July 2025, your work permit should still be valid until the expiration date.) Learn more here about the status of TPS for specific countries.

Work permits based on parole 

The fee to apply for a work permit based on parole also increased beginning on July 22, 2025:

• Initial work permit: $1080 (if applying by mail) or $1030 (if applying online). 

• Renewal work permit: $800 (if applying by mail) or $750 (if applying online).

• You can pay the fee at the same time as you submit your application. Learn how to pay the fee.

Work permits based on parole will only be valid for one year, or until the expiration date of the parole – whichever is shorter. (But if you had already received your work permit before July 2025, your work permit should still be valid until the expiration date or until you receive a notice from the government ending your parole and work permit.)

How to pay a fee to immigration court or USCIS

There are different types of immigration fees, and how to pay depends on the type of fee.

The annual asylum fee. If you are seeking asylum in immigration court, you can pay the annual asylum fee on this immigration court website (read more above). If you are seeking asylum at USCIS, you can pay the annual asylum fee on this USCIS website (read more above). 

Other immigration court fees. Other fees to immigration court or the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) can be paid online at this immigration court website. 

Other USCIS fees. You generally pay USCIS fees at the time you file your application, whether you file online or by mail. You can check this USCIS website and select your form to find the fee.

If you file an application with USCIS online, you pay the fee online with a credit card, debit card, or bank account transfer (ACH). If you do not have a credit or debit card, you can use cash to buy a pre-paid card at many large stores. Be sure to leave enough money on the card to cover the filing fee.

If you file an application with USCIS by mail, you include the fee payment with the mailing. There are a few options, which were updated on October 28, 2025:

• Credit Card or Debit Card. To pay with a credit card or debit card, fill out Form G-1450. Include the form on top of your application. If you do not have a credit or debit card, you can use cash to buy a pre-paid card at many large stores. Be sure to leave enough money on the card to cover the filing fee.

• Bank Account. To pay by electronic debit (ACH) from a U.S. bank account, fill out Form G-1650. Include the form on top of your application.

• Check or Money Order. As of October 28, 2025, to pay by check or money order, you must sign and include Form G-1651, Exemption for Paper Fee Payment, on top of your application with your check or money order. Make the check or money order payable to “U.S. Department of Homeland Security”. Write your A-number (for example, A# 000-000-000) somewhere on the check or money order.