U.S. District Judge Claire Conner in Washington, D.C., granted a preliminary injunction on Thursday stopping U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services from collecting the sharply higher Form I-526/I-526E filing fee—raised to US$11,160 in April 2024—until the agency complies with procedural requirements in the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022. The ruling came in Moody v. Mayorkas, a suit brought by a coalition of regional centers and prospective investors.
Judge Conner found that USCIS skipped the RIA-mandated fee study and “offered no contemporaneous evidence” to justify the 204 percent increase, violating both the statute and the Administrative Procedure Act. Her order resets the filing fee to the pre-April 2024 level of US$3,675 while the case proceeds on the merits.
![Federal Judge Halts USCIS EB-5 Fee Hikes, Restoring Lower Filing Costs for Investors]()
The decision reverberates across the EB-5 ecosystem. Regional centers say lower fees could revive demand that has sagged amid ballooning costs and stricter source-of-funds documentation. Immigration counsel expect a short-term surge of new I-526 filings from investors racing to lock in the lower rate before USCIS re-promulgates a compliant fee schedule—something the agency signaled it hopes to finalize in early 2026 after completing a new cost study.
Investors who already paid the higher fee will not receive automatic refunds, and the judge left open whether plaintiffs can seek reimbursement later. Practitioners advise affected clients to preserve receipts and consider protective refund claims once the litigation settles.
Beyond EB-5, the ruling is the second high-profile rebuke this year of fast-track fee hikes (the first being an October injunction against new asylum and H-1B fee increases). Together they reinforce the judiciary’s willingness to police agency rulemaking shortcuts—an important trend for employers and mobility programs budgeting for 2026.
Judge Conner found that USCIS skipped the RIA-mandated fee study and “offered no contemporaneous evidence” to justify the 204 percent increase, violating both the statute and the Administrative Procedure Act. Her order resets the filing fee to the pre-April 2024 level of US$3,675 while the case proceeds on the merits.
The decision reverberates across the EB-5 ecosystem. Regional centers say lower fees could revive demand that has sagged amid ballooning costs and stricter source-of-funds documentation. Immigration counsel expect a short-term surge of new I-526 filings from investors racing to lock in the lower rate before USCIS re-promulgates a compliant fee schedule—something the agency signaled it hopes to finalize in early 2026 after completing a new cost study.
Investors who already paid the higher fee will not receive automatic refunds, and the judge left open whether plaintiffs can seek reimbursement later. Practitioners advise affected clients to preserve receipts and consider protective refund claims once the litigation settles.
Beyond EB-5, the ruling is the second high-profile rebuke this year of fast-track fee hikes (the first being an October injunction against new asylum and H-1B fee increases). Together they reinforce the judiciary’s willingness to police agency rulemaking shortcuts—an important trend for employers and mobility programs budgeting for 2026.
