DHS will publish its final EB-5 fee rule in the Federal Register on September 30, 2026. The rule was placed on public inspection on September 29 as document 2026-20016 (RIN 1615-AC93). It takes effect 60 days after publication. After that, any EB-5 petition or application postmarked on or after that date must include the new fees. The final numbers differ in important ways from the October 2025 proposal. They also change our August 21 coverage of the rule’s move to White House review: measured against what investors actually pay today, most of these fees go up, not down.
Why the comparison changed
The proposal cut fees compared with the April 2024 schedule, which set the I-526 at $11,160. On November 12, 2025, however, the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado ruled in Moody v. Noem that the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 barred DHS from raising EB-5 fees in its general 2024 fee rule. USCIS then reinstated the older, lower fees, and it has charged those since. The final rule measures itself against those reinstated amounts, and on that basis the new fees are much higher:
- I-526 (standalone investor): $3,675 → $7,615 (+107%). The proposal had set $9,625.
- I-526E (regional center investor, initial): $3,675 → $7,850 (+114%)
- I-526E amendment: $3,675 → $7,775
- I-829 (removal of conditions): $3,750 → $5,000 (+33%). The proposal had set $7,860.
- I-527 (new amendment form for legacy I-526 petitions): $10,330, up from the proposed $8,000
Regional centers split both ways
Initial regional center designation (Form I-956) rises from $17,795 to $44,115, and the I-956F project application rises to $42,675. Both are much higher than the proposed $28,895 and $29,935. In response to public comments, DHS now charges the cost of regional center terminations only to these two initial filings. Other regional center fees fall. An I-956 amendment drops to $9,835 (−45%) and the I-956G annual statement drops to $2,165. New promoter registration (I-956K) costs $2,165, and the I-956H bona fides filing costs $65. Integrity Fund fees rise 10% for inflation: $1,100 per I-526E petition, and $11,000 or $22,000 a year per regional center.
Why the numbers moved
DHS says the changes come mainly from updated budget and workload assumptions. It now projects 16,604 EB-5 receipts a year instead of 11,262, and puts EB-5 program costs at about $105 million instead of $86 million. At current fees, it projects EB-5 revenue of about $56.6 million, a gap of roughly $48.4 million that the new schedule is meant to close. The agency received only 28 public comment submissions on the proposal.
What applicants should do
For investors using EB-5 as a way out of the EB-2 and EB-3 backlogs, the practical point is timing. An I-526 or I-526E postmarked before the effective date still pays $3,675. One postmarked on or after it pays roughly twice that. The same applies to the I-829. Anyone close to filing now has a window of about 60 days. The regional center program remains authorized through September 30, 2027. The rule’s analysis assumes Congress will extend it again.
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