On July 4, 2025, President Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) into law. This new law increases many immigration-related fees and makes it harder for some people to access or continue with their immigration process.
These changes apply to many types of filings, including asylum applications before immigration courts and USCIS. The fees include a new fee of $100 for filing the Form I-589 and an additional annual $100 for any asylum application pending for a year or more. Before this law, there were no fees to apply for or continue asylum cases.
As of October 30, 2025, a judge temporarily paused the Annual Asylum fee requirement because of a lawsuit filed by the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project (ASAP). As a result, asylum seekers with a pending application are not required to pay the Asylum Annual Fee at this time and no case should be denied for lack of payment. However, this lawsuit challenges the implementation process and not the fee requirement itself, so this pause of the Annual Asylum Fee is only temporary. We will send an update when the pause has ended.
There is no waiver or reduced fee available for asylum applicants and lack of timely payment could lead to your asylum application being delayed or even rejected.
This information is not a substitute for legal advice from a qualified attorney or accredited representative. The content was last updated November 2025.
What to know about the annual asylum fee
On September 23, 2025, the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) announced updates to its payment portal, which now allows you to pay certain filing fees for immigration court applications and motions online. You can pay online anytime at the EOIR link.
Procedures for paying the fee may vary depending on each judge so make sure to follow the instructions of your immigration judge or contact the immigration court clerk if you have questions
I am an asylum seeker with a pending application. What does this mean for me?
Whether you filed your asylum application in immigration court or with USCIS (affirmatively and not in court) you will need to pay $100 each year to continue your pending asylum case.
If you filed with USCIS, they have indicated they will send you a personal notice indicating “when it must be paid, how the fee must be paid, and the consequences for failing to pay.”
If you filed with USCIS, they have indicated they will send you a personal notice indicating “when it must be paid, how the fee must be paid, and the consequences for failing to pay.”
If you have an application pending before the immigration court, EOIR has not yet issued additional guidance on how to pay the annual fee for applications filed in court, and the online payment portal currently only allows for payment of the initial fee.
Put in box as “consideration”: Paying the Annual Asylum Application Fee: As of Sept. 29, 2015, EOIR has not provided clear guidance on how the annual fee is to be paid. For this reason, some practitioners are using the initial fee option to pay the annual $100 fee on the EOIR Payment Portal and saving the receipt as proof of a good faith attempt to pay the annual fee. However, given the lack of guidance on this matter, there is no guarantee that payment of the annual fee for pending applications through the application portal will satisfy the annual fee payment requirement at this time.
I have an upcoming court hearing where I plan to submit my asylum application. Can I pay at the courthouse?
If you will be submitting an application for asylum, you will now have to pay the $100 application fee and include proof of payment with your application. If filing in immigration court, you must pay the $100 new asylum application fee through the EOIR payment portal before submitting your asylum application. Payments cannot be made in person or by mail.
After payment, you will get a receipt which you must include with your application, and a payment tracking ID to look up or reprint your receipt. It is recommended to keep these in a safe place.
I just submitted my asylum application in court and I want to apply for my work permit (EAD) now. How can I do so?
In general, asylum seekers can request an initial work permit 150 days after submitting their asylum application to immigration court or USCIS. It then typically takes about 30 days after submitting the initial permit application to receive the EAD card. Starting on July 22, 2025, it now costs $550 to apply for your initial work permit as an asylum seeker.
Work authorization applications and fees payments are submitted to USCIS, not through this EOIR portal. For more details, review these details from ASAP about how to renew a work permit and apply by mail.
How do I pay filing fees for individuals in consolidated proceedings?
Only one payment is needed for an asylum application that includes more than one respondent/applicant in consolidated proceedings (for example, the principal applicant and their accompanying spouse and children). Enter the principal applicant’s A-Number in the corresponding field when you make a payment on the EOIR payment portal.
