What Happened to Asylum Fees in 2026?

By David Wetmore, Senior Counsel

Asylum Fees Are Adjusted for Inflation 

Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) is required to increase its OBBBA fees every year to keep up with inflation. This includes increasing the annual fee for pending asylum applications from $100 to $102, effective February 1, 2026. EOIR calculated the inflationary adjustment of the annual asylum fee for FY 2026 by multiplying the FY 2025 fee of $100 by the change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) from July 2024 to July 2025, which was approximately 2.70%, and then rounding the result down to the nearest dollar. However, the initial fee for filing an asylum application (Form I-589) before an immigration court will remain unchanged at $100, which EOIR calculated by multiplying the FY 2025 initial asylum application fee of $100 by 2.7% and then rounding that result down to the next lowest multiple of $10, thus leaving it unchanged. 

Two Different Asylum-Related Fees 

Initial Asylum Application (Form I-589) 

• This is the fee when someone first files an asylum application (Form I-589) with an immigration court. 
• The FY 2025 fee was $100. 
• After applying the 2.70% inflation adjustment, the FY 2026 initial asylum application fee remains $100 because the inflationary increase was too small to raise it to the next $10 increment, which is the formula that EOIR uses for calculating inflationary increases for all OBBBA fees except for the annual asylum fee. 

Annual Asylum Fee 

• In addition to the initial asylum application fee, OBBBA requires an annual asylum fee for each calendar year that an asylum application remains pending before EOIR. 
• For FY 2025, this fee was $100, and effective February 1, 2026, it will be increased to $102. or FY 2025, this fee was $100, and effective February 1, 2026, it will be increased to $102. 

When did these fees start to be in effect?  

• The updated fees for FY 2026 became effective February 1, 2026. 
• Any asylum-related filing (initial filing fee or annual fee) postmarked on or after that date must include the new fee amount, or it may be rejected. 

Summary 

• Initial asylum filing fee remains at $100 in FY 2026. 
• The annual asylum fee went up slightly to $102 for FY 2026. 
• These adjustments apply to filings made after February 1, 2026. 

www.grossmanyoung.com  |  info@grossmanyoung.com  |  (240) 403-0913  |  (301) 917-6900

*Disclaimer: This information is presented for the purposes of general education and does not constitute legal advice.