§1803 Employment authorization document fees

Summary

The Secretary of Homeland Security must charge a fee when someone files their first application for a work permit in three cases: as part of an asylum application, if they were paroled into the United States, or if they have Temporary Protected Status. For fiscal year 2025 the fee will be at least $550 or a higher amount the Secretary may set by rule. For fiscal year 2026 and later, the fee will be last year’s fee plus an increase tied to the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (the July comparison to the prior July), and that increase is rounded down to the nearest $10. For parolees and TPS applicants, the work permit is valid for 1 year or for the length of their parole or TPS, whichever is shorter. Money rules: 25% of fees from asylum-related filings go to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and into the Immigration Examinations Fee Account; USCIS may keep and spend that money, and at least 50% of it must be used to detect and prevent immigration benefit fraud. Any other collected amounts go to the U.S. Treasury general fund. None of these fees can be waived or reduced.