Asylum fees in 2026: the $100 filing fee, the annual asylum fee ($105), and what happens if one is not paid

Filing Form I-589 carries a $100 statutory asylum fee, and each calendar year the application stays pending an annual asylum fee is due: $105 under the fiscal year 2027 adjustment (EOIR from 1 October 2026; USCIS requests postmarked on or after 16 October 2026). Neither can be waived, an unpaid annual fee leads to rejection of the application, and a rejected application's filing fee is kept.

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (H.R. 1), signed in July 2025, created fees for asylum seekers, even though the DHS fee table still lists Form I-589 itself at "No fee". A person now faces charges at three points: when the Form I-589 is filed, every year it remains pending, and when the person asks for a work permit. They are fixed by statute, adjusted each year for inflation, and the law does not allow them to be waived or reduced.

This page covers the first two charges, as at 10 October 2026, and points to our page on the asylum work permit for the third. It explains the amounts, the two different agencies that collect them and their different effective dates, what the rules say happens when the annual fee is not paid, and the status of the litigation over annual fee notices. It describes rules and fees; it does not say whether a person should apply, when, or where. Asylum has a filing deadline, and a missed fee deadline can end a pending application, so a person who is applying or who has received a fee notice should speak to an attorney or DOJ-accredited representative promptly.

Quotation marks on this page mean the exact words of the regulation, Federal Register notice or official page named. Always check the USCIS fee schedule (Form G-1055) and the EOIR fees page before you pay, because these amounts change each fiscal year.

The three asylum charges at a glance

Filing fee for Form I-589: $100. The regulation lists the form itself at "No fee" (8 CFR 106.2(a)(28)), but the statutory asylum fee applies in addition: 8 CFR 106.2(c)(14) says "To apply for asylum under 8 U.S.C. 1158, the applicant must submit the fee required by 8 U.S.C. 1802." The amount was $100 for fiscal year 2025, $100 for 2026 and is $100 for 2027 (the inflation adjustment rounded to no change).
Annual asylum fee (AAF): $105 under the fiscal year 2027 adjustment, up from $102 in fiscal year 2026 and $100 in 2025. It is due for each calendar year the application remains pending.
Work permit fees (Form I-765, if the person applies for one while the case is pending): set separately, covered on the work permit page.

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act provisions are codified at 8 U.S.C. 1802 and following. Because the law requires an inflation adjustment every fiscal year, a figure copied from last year's website is likely to be out of date. The fiscal year runs from 1 October to 30 September.

Two agencies, two effective dates

An asylum application is filed either with USCIS (an "affirmative" application) or with an immigration court (a "defensive" application, when the person is in removal proceedings). Which one the fee goes to depends on where the case is, and the two agencies announced the 2027 figures separately.

Cases at the immigration court (EOIR). The Executive Office for Immigration Review published a notice on 29 September 2026 (91 FR 61447) listing the fiscal year 2027 amounts for DHS forms filed with EOIR: Form I-589 initial application $100 (no change), and Form I-589 annual asylum fee $105 (up from $102). It states: "The FY 2027 filing fee amounts will be required for any relevant filings with the Immigration Courts or the Board of Immigration Appeals filed on or after October 1, 2026 (the first day of FY 2027)." EOIR's own fees page lists the Annual Asylum Fee at $105.

Cases at USCIS. USCIS announced on 30 September 2026 that the new inflation-adjusted amounts are effective later: "The new inflation-adjusted fees are effective on Oct. 16, 2026." and "Any request postmarked on or after Oct. 16, 2026 without the proper filing fee will be rejected." Its table lists the Annual Asylum Application Fee as $102 before and $105 after. The USCIS Federal Register notice (91 FR 62540) says the same: the fees "are effective on or after October 16, 2026."

Between 1 and 15 October 2026, therefore, the EOIR date has passed and the USCIS date has not. Anyone paying in that window should read the notice or order they have received and the agency's current page, rather than rely on a figure copied from a website.

Combined amounts. EOIR notes that the fee on its payment portal combines two parts: "The amounts displayed on EOIR's Payment Portal and website are the combined total of the section 286(m) and OBBBA fees." For the I-589 the 286(m) part is zero and the whole amount is the statutory one.

The $100 filing fee: no waiver, and kept if the application is rejected

Three rules are worth knowing before filing.

It cannot be waived or reduced. 8 CFR 1208.3(a)(1) provides: "The application fee cannot be waived or reduced." DHS's first notice implementing the law says: "The asylum fee cannot be waived or reduced."

It is kept if the application is rejected. 8 CFR 106.2(c)(14): "The fee will be retained and not returned or refunded when a filed asylum application is rejected consistent with 8 CFR 103.2(a)." An application that is rejected and then refiled can therefore mean paying the filing fee a second time. USCIS's 2026 interim final rule says the same for rejections generally.

Withholding-only filings have no fee. 8 CFR 1103.7(b)(4)(ii) provides: "Consistent with 8 CFR 106.2, no fee shall apply to a Form I-589 filed with an immigration judge for the sole purpose of seeking withholding of removal under section 241(b)(3) of the Act or protection under the Convention Against Torture regulations." This applies only to a form filed for that sole purpose; an application that also seeks asylum carries the fee.

In the immigration court, the fee receipt is part of the filing. For an application in "asylum-and-withholding-only" proceedings, 8 CFR 1208.4(d)(2) says: "If the alien must pay a fee for submission of the asylum application, the alien must submit the DHS-issued fee receipt together with the application by the deadline set by the immigration judge". If the payment has been made but the receipt has not arrived, 1208.4(d)(3) requires proof of payment with the application and the receipt later: "If the immigration judge does not set a deadline, the alien must submit the fee receipt no later than 45 days after the date of filing of the application." More generally, an application filed with an immigration court is incomplete if it is "unaccompanied by any required fee receipt or other proof of payment" and "An application that is incomplete shall be rejected by the immigration court." The person then has to "correct the deficiencies in the incomplete application and refile it within 30 days of rejection", and failure to do so, absent exceptional circumstances, "shall result in a finding that the alien has abandoned that application and waived the opportunity to file such an application" (8 CFR 1208.3(c)(3)).

Those are rules where the asylum filing deadline and the fee interact. The asylum application also has a one-year deadline from arrival with its own exceptions, covered on our page on the one-year filing deadline.

The annual asylum fee: who owes it and when

Congress required a yearly fee for every pending application. DHS's July 2025 notice describes the law this way: "HR-1 requires all aliens with a pending asylum application to pay an annual fee for each calendar year that the alien's application remains pending, in addition to any other fee."

The regulation, 8 CFR 106.2(c)(15), is short: "For each calendar year that a Form I-589 remains pending, the applicant must pay an annual asylum fee as required by 8 U.S.C. 1808 within 30-days of the date the notice is sent." It adds that "DHS will send each applicant a notice informing them that their annual asylum fee is due, when it is due, and how it must be paid".

Notice drives the deadline, and the deadline runs from the date the notice is sent, not the date it arrives. The USCIS Form I-589 page says USCIS will "send a notice to each alien who must pay the AAF" and "also send notices to any representatives of these aliens listed on Form G-28". It says: "Once USCIS sends a notice, you should pay the AAF within 30 days."

Who pays. The USCIS page says the fee "applies to the principal alien only and is in addition to any other fee that may be due". The page limits the annual fee to the principal applicant.

Which year is the first one. For applications at USCIS, DHS's 2025 notice says: "Any alien who filed or files a Form I-589 after October 1, 2024, that remains pending with USCIS for 365 days must pay the AAF as of the one-year anniversary of his or her filing date and each year thereafter that the application remains pending on such day of the calendar year." EOIR describes the trigger for cases before the courts in different words: "Any alien who had an asylum application pending for one year or more on or after October 1, 2025, must pay an AAF. Any application that remains pending for another 365 days after the initial AAF was due—and for each year thereafter—is also subject to the AAF." The safest reading of either is the notice or written order the person actually receives.

The amount. $100 for fiscal year 2025, $102 for 2026, $105 for 2027, according to the Federal Register tables. The statute fixes the minimum and requires annual indexing.

How it is paid. USCIS: "You must pay the AAF online" through its system, using the A-Number and the receipt number printed on the notice. Use only the payment page linked from the official USCIS Form I-589 page. For cases at the immigration court, EOIR says the judge or the Board "will provide a written order regarding the payment of the AAF" and that "Aliens must use the EOIR Payment Portal to pay the AAF listed in the “Filing Type” drop-down menu on the Portal’s webpage." EOIR stopped accepting checks and money orders on 23 February 2026.

No waiver. The USCIS page: "You cannot request a waiver of the AAF." EOIR's page: "No fee-waiver or reduction in fee is permitted". 8 CFR 1103.7(b)(4)(iii): "Aliens are required to pay an annual fee for each calendar year that an alien's asylum application remains pending administrative review. This fee cannot be waived or reduced."

What happens if the annual fee is not paid

The consequence is written into the regulation. 8 CFR 106.2(c)(15)(ii): "If the annual asylum fee is not paid, the asylum application will be rejected." The interim final rule that codified it, 91 FR 22952 (effective 29 May 2026), summarises the effect: "failure to pay within 30 days of notice results in rejection of the pending asylum application and the denial of any associated application for employment authorization."

The same rule explains the immigration consequences:

"Rejection results in the termination of the asylum application with USCIS, meaning that USCIS will take no further action on the application."
"If the alien wishes to reapply for asylum, he or she will need to file a new Form I-589, including a new mandatory filing fee as required by 8 U.S.C. 1802."
"If the alien maintains lawful status, USCIS will not issue a Notice to Appear (NTA) or initiate removal solely based on the AAF nonpayment."
"If the alien lacks lawful status, DHS will either initiate expedited removal under INA sec. 235(b), 8 U.S.C. 1225(b), where the applicant is amenable to expedited removal, or issue an NTA under INA sec. 239, 8 U.S.C. 1229, in other cases."

USCIS's I-589 page adds a related rule: "If USCIS issues you an AAF notice, as long as your AAF remains payable, USCIS cannot approve your asylum application."

Three practical points follow from the text. A rejected application means a new filing fee. A rejection can interact with the one-year filing deadline and with the work permit clock, which are separate questions on our pages for each. And for a case at the immigration court, EOIR says the judge or the Board gives a written order about payment, so a person in court should read that order closely and show it to their representative.

The litigation over annual fee notices

The annual fee has been the subject of a lawsuit. DHS's November 2025 notice (90 FR 52693) records that "On October 30, 2025, as required by an order issued in in Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project v. United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, et al., SAG-25-03299 (D. Md.), USCIS paused the implementation of the July 22, 2025 notice as it relates to annual asylum fee notices." and that "Any applicant who has received a notice from USCIS may disregard that notice pending updated instructions." That order did not affect the adjustment of the amount.

The April 2026 interim final rule reports that the pause ended: "The stay was lifted on February 2, 2026. Once this rule is effective, DHS will send notices to applicants who have not paid informing them of how non-payment affects their application."

The rule took effect on 29 May 2026. The USCIS Form I-589 page also carries an alert headed "Litigation Update on Ms. L. v. ICE and Applicability of Certain HR-1 Fees", the content of which is on that page. Litigation can change what is required. A person with a pending application should read any notice from USCIS or the court as a deadline until a representative or an official page says otherwise.

Finding help. Asylum applicants pay the fees themselves, but the law also requires the government to give a person a list of pro bono providers: 8 U.S.C. 1158(d)(4)(B) says that at filing the Attorney General shall "provide the alien a list of persons (updated not less often than quarterly) who have indicated their availability to represent aliens in asylum proceedings on a pro bono basis." Pro bono work is uncompensated legal work, apart from filing fees and copying costs, so the government fees above stay payable. See low-cost and pro bono immigration legal help and who can represent you in a deportation case.

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Questions people ask

How much does it cost to apply for asylum in 2026?

The statutory asylum fee for filing Form I-589 is $100 (unchanged in the fiscal year 2027 adjustment). An annual asylum fee, $105 under the fiscal year 2027 adjustment, is due for each calendar year the application remains pending. There is no fee for a form filed solely to seek withholding of removal or Convention Against Torture protection (8 CFR 1103.7(b)(4)(ii)). Check the USCIS fee schedule (G-1055) and the EOIR fees page before paying.

Can the asylum fee be waived?

No. 8 CFR 1208.3(a)(1) says "The application fee cannot be waived or reduced." For the annual fee, USCIS says "You cannot request a waiver of the AAF" and EOIR says "No fee-waiver or reduction in fee is permitted".

What is the annual asylum fee and when is it due?

It is a yearly fee for each calendar year a Form I-589 stays pending: 8 CFR 106.2(c)(15) says it must be paid "within 30-days of the date the notice is sent". DHS sends the notice, with the amount and payment instructions. At EOIR, the judge or the Board gives a written order about payment, and payment is through the EOIR Payment Portal.

What happens if I do not pay the annual asylum fee?

Under 8 CFR 106.2(c)(15)(ii), "If the annual asylum fee is not paid, the asylum application will be rejected." DHS's 2026 rule adds that a person who wishes to reapply must file a new Form I-589 with a new filing fee, and that an unpaid fee also leads to denial of any associated work permit application. Whether removal proceedings follow depends on the person's status, as the rule describes.

Does the annual fee apply to my spouse and children on my application?

USCIS's I-589 page says the annual asylum fee "applies to the principal alien only". Confirm in the notice you receive.

Do I get the filing fee back if my asylum application is rejected?

No. 8 CFR 106.2(c)(14) says the fee "will be retained and not returned or refunded when a filed asylum application is rejected". A corrected application filed after a rejection carries the fee again.

Sources

Last checked 2026-10-10.

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