On July 4, 2025, the U.S. government passed a law that created new fees for asylum applicants.

These fees include:

1. $100 Initial Filing Fee: for new asylum applications

2. $100 Annual Asylum Fee: for individuals who previously filed an asylum application, and their asylum application remains pending

You may have heard reports about these fees on the news or social media and may be confused about whether you need to pay the annual asylum fee by tomorrow September 30, 2025.

As of today, September 29, 2025, the U.S. government has provided very little guidance about the annual asylum fee.

What we know so far:

1. The annual asylum fee will apply to anyone whose asylum application has been pending for at least 1 year as of September 30, 2025.

2. If your asylum application is pending with USCIS (most often, this applies to people who do NOT have a case before an Immigration Court), USCIS will mail you a notice regarding the annual asylum fee with payment instructions and a deadline for payment.

3. USCIS will probably start mailing these notices out in the fall of 2025.

What we DON’T know yet:

1. We don’t know how to pay the annual asylum fee if your asylum application is pending with an Immigration Court. As of September 29, 2025, the immigration court system has not provided any instructions regarding how to pay the annual asylum fee.

• Please note: The EOIR Payment Portal, which is used to pay filing fees for certain applications and motions before the Immigration Courts, recently added an option to pay the initial filing fee for a Form I-589, Application for Asylum. However, it does NOT include an option to pay the annual asylum fee.

Advice from your lawyer:

1. If you have recently moved, please contact our office at (720)507-3272 or info@actimmigrationlaw.com to give us your new mailing address. We will update your address with USCIS and the Immigration Court, as applicable, to make sure you do not miss any mail regarding the annual asylum fee.

2. If your asylum application is pending with USCIS, ACT Immigration Law recommends waiting until you receive a notice from USCIS in the mail before paying the annual asylum fee.

3. If you are scheduled for an Immigration Court hearing soon, your attorney will contact you before you go to court to discuss the annual asylum fee. There have been reports of some immigration judges asking for proof of payment of the annual fee even though there is no system set up to pay yet. Therefore, for those who need to go to court before we receive further guidance from the U.S. government regarding how to pay the annual asylum fee, it may be advisable to pay the initial filing fee for the Form I-589, Application for Asylum before going to court. Your attorney will discuss this option with you further before you go to court.

4. If you have a case before the Immigration Court, but are NOT scheduled for an Immigration Court hearing soon:

• ACT Immigration Law recommends waiting for further guidance from the U.S. government before making any payments towards the annual asylum fee on the EOIR Payment Portal. Otherwise, you may have to pay $100 twice.

• However, if you can afford to pay a $100 fee twice, you may consider paying the $100 initial filing fee for the I-589, Application for Asylum, now to be on the safe side. To make this payment, go to the EOIR Payment Portal, enter your case number (“A-Number”) and under “Filing Type” select “Court – I-589, Application for Asylum (Initial Fee).” As mentioned above, ACT Immigration Law does NOT recommend trying to pay the annual asylum fee before the U.S. government provides further guidance regarding this fee. However, if you decide to make a payment, be sure to save your receipt.

• Please be aware, if you decide to pay the $100 initial filing fee now, you are are responsible for paying an additional $100 fee in the future if the court provides instructions requiring payment of the annual asylum fee in a different format than the payment you previously made.

Please note: As an ACT Immigration Law client, if you are scheduled for an Immigration Court hearing, our office will contact you to let you know. You do not need to contact our office to confirm whether a new hearing has been scheduled. If you would like to double check whether you are scheduled for a hearing and the date, time, and location of your next hearing, you can check the online EOIR Automated Case Information system or call 1-800-898-7180. If you call the 1-800 number and hear the message “The system does not contain any information regarding a future hearing date on your case,” that means that you are NOT scheduled for a future hearing date.

Thank you for your attention to this matter!

Sincerely,

ACT Immigration Law