Court Denies Temporary Restraining Order Request to Halt USCIS Fee Increase

Samantha Moody (an EB-5 immigrant investor), the American Immigrant Investor Alliance, and IT Service Alliance had previously jointly filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado opposing the fee increases for certain immigration benefits, as outlined in the new final rule published by USCIS. The plaintiffs argued that this rule, which was set to take effect on April 1, 2024, was announced without appropriate notification and it also randomly forces some businesses and individuals to fund asylum resolutions.

The plaintiffs made clear that their lawsuit was not an effort to derail any grounded authority from increasing fees for the adjudication of immigration benefits. Rather, they claimed it was an effort to highlight and ensure that such rules are announced timely and in accordance with law and procedure. The plaintiffs urged the court to stop the fee increase preliminarily and permanently.

Specifically, the plaintiffs argued that the final rule proposed by USCIS were unlawful because it was announced without adequate notice. Additionally, the plaintiffs also argued that the Final Rule is unlawful as it imposed an “Asylum Program Fee” that taxed certain petitioners seeking employment-based immigration benefits between $300 to $600 per benefit. Finally, the plaintiffs highlighted that the Final Rule lacks legal basis as it doubled immigrant investor fees through the EB-5 immigrant investor program, without first undergoing congressionally mandated fee study.

On March 29, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado denied the plaintiffs’ request for a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) requesting to prevent the implementation of USCIS’ fee rule taking effect on April 1, 2024. This decision was made because the court ruled that the plaintiffs had failed to meet their burden of proof for injunctive relief.

The result of this denial meant that USCIS fee increases took effect as of April 1, 2024. It will be interesting to see how the new fee increase will impact applicants and petitioners alike, especially those applicants who will now see huge fee spikes, such as for EB-5 immigrant investors.

We ask readers to check in with our website for any new developments and trends in this matter.

To view the lawsuit in its entirety, please click this link: 1-Filed-Complaint_Moody-v.-Mayorkas-DCO-1.pdf (dgix0ebbaxq7j.cloudfront.net)