EB-5 fees from 30 November 2026: the new I-526E, I-829 and integrity fund schedule

EB-5 filing costs change on 30 November 2026. For investors, regional centers and companies that sponsor executives through the investor route, the date sits between two others that matter more: the expired grandfathering date and the January 2027 investment adjustment.

The new schedule

The EB-5 fee rule published on 30 September 2026 applies to any application, petition or request postmarked on or after 30 November 2026:

• Form I-526, standalone investor: $7,615.
• Form I-526E, regional center investor, initial filing: $7,850.
• Form I-526E amendment: $7,775.
• The I-526 and the initial I-526E each include a $75 EB-5 technology fee within those amounts.
• Form I-829, removal of conditions: $5,000.
• Form I-956G, regional center annual statement: $2,165.
• Integrity fund fees rise by 10 percent: $1,100 per I-526E, and $11,000 or $22,000 for regional centers depending on size.

The rule explains the increase with a cost gap: projected EB-5 program-specific costs of about $105 million a year against projected revenue of about $56.6 million at current fees.

Where it sits in the calendar

Three dates now frame every new EB-5 filing. The protection for petitions filed by 30 September 2026 has already closed, as explained in grandfathering and the 2027 sunset. The fee change follows on 30 November. The first statutory adjustment of the minimum investment follows on 1 January 2027, covered in the January 2027 adjustment. A petition that misses the fee date by a week also has very little time left before the investment amount changes.

For investors already in the queue

An investor with conditional residence who files the I-829 after 30 November pays the new fee, and then waits through the queue described in I-829 delays and indefinite conditional residence. Higher fees do not shorten that queue. The capital already committed keeps carrying the cost set out in I-526E delays and the cost of committed capital.

When a fully paid petition then sits far beyond its posted time, the litigation options are on Mandamus.com's pages on EB-5 adjustment delays and I-829 mandamus. The forms themselves are at USCIS Form I-526E and Form I-829; check the fee on the form page on the day of filing.

Budgeting

For companies that fund EB-5 cases for executives, the fee change belongs in the same line as the H-1B and premium processing changes collected in the 2027 immigration budget.

What the fees do not buy

The fee study behind the rule also revised USCIS's volume forecast, raising projected average annual EB-5 receipts from 11,262 to 16,604 for fiscal years 2026 and 2027. More filings at higher fees fund the programme; they do not by themselves shorten an individual queue. An investor deciding whether to file before or after 30 November should plan on the processing times that apply when the petition is filed, captured on a dated screenshot as the evidence file recommends, not on any expectation that higher fees mean faster decisions.

Questions

Which date decides the fee?

The postmark. Anything postmarked on or after 30 November 2026 must carry the new fee.

Is the technology fee extra?

No. The $75 EB-5 technology fee is included in the I-526 and initial I-526E amounts listed in the rule.

Do the new fees change the investment amount?

No. The minimum investment adjusts separately, by statute, from 1 January 2027.

General information, not legal advice. Rules and processing practice change; verify against the agency's own published figures and take advice on your own facts.