Filing Fees for P-1, O-1, and EB-1A visas as of April 1, 2024 Increase
At Sherrod Sports Visas, our team specializes in O, P, and EB1A visas for athletes, entertainers, investors, and highly skilled professionals across various industries. Today, we want to discuss a significant issue affecting many of our clients and the broader immigration community: the problems with USCIS filing fees.
Current Issues with USCIS Filing Fees
New Rules and Asylum Fee
As of April 1st, USCIS implemented new rules regarding filing fees, including an additional asylum fee. This fee varies between $300 to $600 depending on the number of full-time employees. Unfortunately, even before this change, we have been experiencing substantial delays in receipt notices and issues with charging credit cards for filing fees.
Delayed Receipt Notices
One of the major frustrations is the delay in receiving receipt notices from USCIS. When we mail a case, it’s not uncommon for it to take a month or more to be returned if rejected. Combined with late receipt notices and inconsistent credit card charges, files often remain in limbo, causing significant delays.
Common Problems
Mail Acceptance Delays
When a case is mailed to USCIS and rejected, it can take up to a month to be returned. During this period, clients do not receive any updates, leading to uncertainty and frustration.
Inconsistent Credit Card Charges
Initially, USCIS would charge credit cards within a week of receiving the case. Now, the timing is highly inconsistent, ranging from one week to six weeks. This unpredictability makes it challenging to manage cash flow, especially for law firms handling numerous cases simultaneously.
The Impact on Clients
These delays and inconsistencies result in significant frustration for clients who do not understand why their applications are stalled. It also leads to double charging of filing fees if multiple cases are sent in succession, further complicating the process.
Our Solutions
Ensuring Consistent Adjudication
To mitigate these issues, we are in constant communication with other immigration attorneys to ensure consistent adjudication regarding employer size. In some cases, we may file as a large employer to avoid rejections, despite the additional cost.
Using Reliable Delivery Services
We are considering switching to more expensive but reliable delivery services to ensure USCIS receives the cases promptly. This approach aims to eliminate any excuses for delayed receipt notices.
Client Credit Card Authorizations
For clients who conduct repeat business with us, we are implementing credit card authorizations on their behalf. This measure ensures that filing fees are charged to their cards directly, maintaining credit limits and avoiding delays.
Contact Us
We empathize with everyone affected by these USCIS issues. Our transparent approach aims to shed light on these problems and our efforts to address them. We remain committed to achieving great results despite these challenges and are always open to feedback and suggestions from our clients and peers.
If you have any questions, concerns, or helpful comments, please reach out to us. We look forward to your feedback and are here to assist you through every step of your immigration process.