§1802 Asylum Fee

Summary

Any alien who files an asylum application under section 1158 must pay a fee when they file, in addition to any other required fees. For fiscal year 2025 the fee is the greater of $100 or a higher amount set by the Secretary of Homeland Security or the Attorney General. For fiscal year 2026 and each year after, the fee equals the prior year’s fee plus an increase tied to inflation: multiply the prior fee by the percent increase in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers for July compared to the same month the year before (if any), add that amount, and round down to the nearest $10. The fee cannot be waived or reduced. Each fiscal year, 50 percent of fees from applications filed with the Attorney General go to the Executive Office for Immigration Review and may be kept and spent without further appropriation. Fifty percent of fees from applications filed with the Secretary go to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, are deposited into the Immigration Examinations Fee Account under section 1356(m), and may be kept and spent without further appropriation. Any fee money not credited to those two agencies goes to the Treasury’s general fund.