Immigration Update: EB-5 Filing Fees More Than Double on November 30; October 2026 Visa Bulletin Retrogresses Worldwide EB-2 and EB-3
Two federal publications in the last twenty-four hours change what employment-based applicants and EB-5 investors should be doing this week. Both are confirmed from the government's own documents.
What changed
1. USCIS final rule sharply raises EB-5 fees — published September 30, 2026, effective November 30, 2026
The Department of Homeland Security published the Employment-Based Immigrant Visa, Fifth Preference (EB-5) Fee Rule (RIN 1615-AC93) in the Federal Register today, September 30, 2026. It is a final rule; the comment period on the October 23, 2025 proposed rule is closed.
The rule takes effect November 30, 2026, and the Federal Register text states that any application, petition or request postmarked on or after that date must be accompanied by the new fees. The postmark date controls, not the receipt date.
The principal changes:
Form I-526 (standalone investor): $3,675 to $7,615
Form I-526E (regional center investor, initial): $3,675 to $7,850
Form I-526E (amendment): $3,675 to $7,775
Form I-829 (remove conditions): $3,750 to $5,000
Form I-956 (regional center designation, initial): $17,795 to $44,115
Form I-956F (investment approval): $17,795 to $42,675
Form I-527 (amendment to a legacy Form I-526) — new form: $10,330
Form I-956K (direct and third-party promoter registration) — new form: $2,165
Form I-956H (bona fides) — new form: $65
Not everything rises. The Form I-956 amendment fee drops from $17,795 to $9,835, and the Form I-956G annual statement fee drops from $3,035 to $2,165.
EB-5 Integrity Fund contributions also increase: the Form I-526E investor contribution from $1,000 to $1,100, and the regional center annual contribution from $10,000 to $11,000 (twenty or fewer investors) or from $20,000 to $22,000 (more than twenty).
2. The October 2026 Visa Bulletin is published — worldwide EB-2 and EB-3 retrogress, several India categories reopen
The Department of State has published the Visa Bulletin for October 2026, which governs from October 1, 2026, the first month of fiscal year 2027.
Final Action Dates moving backward:
EB-2, All Chargeability Areas: from Current to 01JAN25
EB-3, All Chargeability Areas: from 01SEP24 to 15MAY24
EB-3 Other Workers, All Chargeability Areas: from 01APR22 to 01JAN22
Final Action Dates moving forward:
EB-2 India: from Unavailable to 01NOV13
EB-5 Unreserved India: from Unavailable to 01DEC23
EB-1 India: from 15OCT22 to 01FEB23
EB-2 China: from 01SEP21 to 01OCT21
EB-3 China: from 01JAN22 to 08JAN22
F2A, all areas: from 22AUG26 to 22SEP26
EB-1 for all chargeability areas remains Current, as does EB-5 Unreserved worldwide.
On the October Dates for Filing chart, EB-2 for all chargeability areas is 15MAR26 — fourteen months ahead of the Final Action Date of 01JAN25. EB-3 all areas is 01AUG24, EB-3 Other Workers is 01JUN22, and F2A is Current for every area.
The bulletin also states that H.R. 6500, signed on September 2, 2026, extends the Employment Fourth Preference Certain Religious Workers (SR) category through December 11, 2026.
What applicants should know
If you have an EB-5 matter in progress. There is a filing window that closes on November 30, 2026. Any petition that can realistically be completed and postmarked before that date locks in the current fee. For a regional center filing a new Form I-956, the difference is $26,320. For an individual investor on Form I-526, it is $3,940. Because the rule keys the fee to the postmark date, mailing method and proof of mailing matter more than usual. Note that a small number of filings — the Form I-956 amendment and the Form I-956G annual statement — are cheaper after November 30, so rushing is not automatically the right call in every case.
If you are a promoter or agent working with EB-5 investors. The rule creates Form I-956K, a registration requirement for direct and third-party promoters, with a $2,165 fee. This is a new obligation, not a fee change to an existing one.
If your priority date was current in September under EB-2 or EB-3 worldwide. A January 2025 Final Action Date for EB-2 worldwide removes immediate eligibility from a substantial group of applicants who had it last month. For consular immigrant visa processing, Final Action Dates control, and the October retrogression applies from October 1.
If you are planning an adjustment of status filing in October. Whether you may file using the Dates for Filing chart depends on a determination USCIS publishes separately. The Visa Bulletin itself directs applicants to the USCIS adjustment of status filing charts page to learn whether that chart may be used for a given month. Given the fourteen-month gap between the two EB-2 charts this month, that determination decides whether a large group of worldwide EB-2 applicants can file in October at all. Confirm it on the USCIS page before you file or before you rely on a filing date.
If you are an Indian national in EB-1, EB-2 or EB-5 unreserved. EB-2 India and EB-5 Unreserved India moving off Unavailable is the first filing opportunity in these categories since the fiscal-year numbers were exhausted. EB-1 India also advances by more than three months.
How we can help
Our team is made up of former U.S. diplomats who spent their careers adjudicating visa applications at U.S. embassies and consulates. We have conducted more than 100,000 visa interviews between us. That background means we read a rule or a bulletin the way the officers who apply it do.
For the developments above, that typically means helping you work out whether an EB-5 filing can realistically be completed and postmarked before November 30 and what the dollar difference is in your specific case; reading your priority date against the October charts and explaining plainly what changed for you; and separating what is settled from what still has to be confirmed before you act on it.
We do not file petitions on your behalf or act as your attorney. We provide professional consultations that help you understand your own case, prepare properly, and ask your lawyer the right questions.
Book a consultation
If you would like to talk through how either of these changes affects your case, you can book a consultation with a former U.S. diplomat at visaexpertdiplomats.com.
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