- Asylum applicants must pay a $102 annual fee once their case is pending over one year.
- Failure to pay within 30 days can lead to denial or removal proceedings for the applicants.
- A single fee covers the entire household on one application regardless of the number of family members.
(US) — U.S. immigration authorities are charging asylum applicants an annual fee of $102 once a case has been pending more than a year, a policy that took effect in immigration courts on February 1, 2026, resumed at USCIS on February 2, 2026, and faces another procedural milestone on May 29, 2026.
Non-payment can lead USCIS to reject an asylum application or an immigration judge to deny or dismiss it, a result that can place applicants without another lawful status into removal proceedings. The charge applies to the asylum application, not to each person listed on it.
That means one family filing a single Form I-589 owes $102 total. A family of four on one application does not owe $408.
The annual charge stems from H.R.1, identified in the policy as OBBBA §100009, which shifted part of the cost of asylum processing from taxpayers to applicants. The law set an initial $100 yearly amount for fiscal year 2025, and that figure later adjusted to $102.
Officials began initial assessments on October 1, 2024 for cases filed after that date at USCIS and the Executive Office for Immigration Review, or EOIR, which runs the immigration courts. USCIS started issuing notices on October 1, 2025, when the fee became due annually on the filing anniversary.
EOIR then activated the court-side fee through Policy Memorandum 26-01 on January 2, 2026, signed by Director Daren Margolin. Courts began charging the $102 fee on February 1, 2026, and judges can assess it in cases that have remained pending for more than one year.
USCIS resumed collecting the fee on February 2, 2026 after a pause tied to litigation. The agency gives applicants 30 days after notice to pay online using an A-Number and the asylum receipt number tied to Form I-589.
Another change arrives on May 29, 2026, when a new USCIS interim final rule takes effect. Under that rule, failure to pay within 30 days can trigger rejection of the asylum application and, for people without another legal basis to remain in the United States, exposure to deportation proceedings.
The fee does not apply the moment an asylum case is filed. It applies only after the application has been pending more than one year, and one payment covers the past pendency rather than stacking fees for each prior year.
A case that has been pending for five years does not generate five annual bills under the initial assessment described in the policy. The applicant owes $102, not five separate yearly charges.
Neither USCIS nor EOIR offers a fee waiver for the annual asylum charge. That rule applies to the initial filing fee framework and to the later yearly assessment once a case crosses the one-year mark.
Payment procedures differ depending on where the asylum case sits. USCIS sends a notice and allows online payment during the 30-day window, while immigration courts leave the deadline to the judge handling the case.
In court cases, a missed payment can have immediate consequences. An immigration judge can deny or dismiss the asylum application, which then opens the door to the deportation process if the person has no other valid status.
USCIS cases carry a parallel risk. If the applicant does not pay within 30 days after notice, the agency can reject the application; applicants who lack an underlying lawful status can then face removal proceedings.
Applicants also need to keep their address current. The policy requires address updates within 10 days so notices about the annual asylum fee reach the right place.
That notice process matters because USCIS uses it to start the payment clock. The agency’s payment system may still display $100 on some 2025 notices even though the amount in effect is now $102.
The court and agency schedules did not move in lockstep. EOIR started charging the updated amount on February 1, 2026, while USCIS resumed collections a day later on February 2, 2026.
Those staggered dates followed an earlier rollout that began in the 2025 fiscal year. The structure now in place links the fee to the anniversary of an asylum filing once that application has remained unresolved for more than twelve months.
Asylum remains available, but the process now carries a recurring financial condition that did not exist before this law. The new charge also arrives as the government plans a partial resumption of asylum processing on March 30, 2026 for applicants from non-high-risk countries, while maintaining stricter vetting.
The overlap creates a system with two tracks of pressure on pending cases. One is procedural, with more screening and resumed processing in some categories; the other is financial, with an annual bill tied to the age of the case.
Immigration court cases face the sharpest courtroom consequence because a judge controls the deadline and the remedy. Once a judge denies or dismisses an unpaid asylum application, the case can move directly toward deportation.
USCIS cases carry a different sequence but lead to the same immigration danger for some applicants. Rejection after the notice period can strip away the pending asylum application that had been keeping the case active, leaving a person with no other status exposed to enforcement.
The amount itself is modest compared with many other immigration fees, but the structure of the charge is unusual. It recurs on a pending protection claim, applies even though the case remains unresolved, and offers no waiver.
Because the fee applies per application rather than per applicant, households filing together avoid multiplied charges. A spouse and children listed on one Form I-589 are covered by the single $102 payment.
Applicants who filed separately do not get that combined treatment. Each asylum application carries its own annual fee once it has remained pending more than one year.
The timeline laid out by the government shows how the policy hardened over several steps rather than in a single day. Initial assessments began on October 1, 2024, notices followed on October 1, 2025, EOIR formally activated the court process on January 2, 2026, and collections restarted at both agencies in early February.
May 29, 2026 sharpens the USCIS side further by tying non-payment within 30 days to rejection and possible immigration consequences. The court system already allows judges to enforce payment deadlines in cases pending beyond a year.
Applicants with pending asylum cases now have to track more than interview dates and court hearings. They also have to watch for annual fee notices, preserve proof of payment, and make sure the address on file changes within 10 days after a move.
The policy leaves little margin for error once a notice goes out. A missed online payment at USCIS or a missed court deadline at EOIR can end the asylum application itself, and with it the protection that comes from having that claim actively pending.
By spring 2026, the asylum system will be operating under all of those dates at once: February 1, 2026 for court collections, February 2, 2026 for USCIS collections, March 30, 2026 for partial processing resumption in non-high-risk country cases, and May 29, 2026 for the new USCIS rule. At the center of that schedule is a yearly asylum fee that began as $100 and now stands at $102, with the cost of missing it extending far beyond the bill itself.
