The $100 I-589 filing fee: what it covers, where you pay it, and how a missing fee can cost you your filing date

Until 2025, filing for asylum was free. H.R. 1, Pub. L. 119-21, changed that. There is now a $100 fee to file Form I-589, with an inflation adjustment that took effect January 1, 2026, plus a separate yearly fee while the case is pending.

A hundred dollars is not much compared with most immigration fees. The danger is not the amount. It is what happens to your application, and your filing date, if the fee is missing or paid the wrong way.

The basics of the $100 fee

• Non-waivable. There is no fee waiver. The court regulation says the fee "cannot be waived or reduced."
• Non-refundable. Once paid, it is not returned.
• Kept even on rejection. If your I-589 is rejected, the government keeps the fee.
• Principal applicant only. A spouse and children included on your application do not pay their own $100.
• No biometrics fee. USCIS Form G-1055 lists no biometric services fee for the I-589.

The separate yearly charge, now $105 (it was $102 before the fiscal year 2027 adjustment), has its own rules and deadlines. We cover it in our post on the Annual Asylum Fee.

Paying in immigration court

If you are in removal proceedings, you file your I-589 with the immigration court, and the same $100 fee applies. EOIR adopted the fees in an interim final rule effective June 11, 2026, 91 FR 35369, after a Director's Order earlier in the year.

The court rule, 8 C.F.R. 1208.3(a)(1), requires that the application be filed "together with any additional supporting evidence and proof of payment of the required application fee."

How you pay matters:

1. Pay through the EOIR Payment Portal. All EOIR immigration fees go through it.
2. Do not send a check or money order. As of February 23, 2026, EOIR no longer accepts them.
3. Download the receipt and file it with the I-589.

A court filing that is "unaccompanied by any required fee receipt or other proof of payment" is incomplete. It does not start the asylum work permit clock, and it must be fixed within 30 days of rejection or it is treated as abandoned.

The Ms. L. class exception

There is one carve-out. According to a note on Form G-1055, as of February 5, 2026 the Pub. L. 119-21 asylum fees do not apply to members of the Ms. L. Settlement Class, and their Qualifying Additional Family Members, who file an I-589 as the principal applicant. This follows a court order in Ms. L. v. ICE, No. 18-cv-00428 (S.D. Cal.). If you think you may be a class member, have a lawyer confirm it before you file without the fee.

Why a missing fee can cost you your filing date

An asylum application is complete only if it is signed, answers every question, includes the required materials, and includes any required fee. That is the rule at 8 C.F.R. 208.3(c)(3).

An incomplete application is rejected. Under that rule it does not start the work permit waiting period, it is returned within 30 days (if it is not, it is treated as complete), and it has to be filed again.

Here is the part that hurts. Under 8 C.F.R. 103.2(a)(7), a rejected filing "will not retain a filing date," and you cannot appeal a rejection. You do not get to keep the date of the first attempt.

That date can decide your case. Asylum has a one-year filing deadline, and you must prove you met it by clear and convincing evidence. In immigration court, the application counts as filed on the date the court receives it. If your first filing was rejected for a missing fee and your refiling lands after the one-year mark, you may be arguing an exception instead of standing on a timely filing.

The regulations do list a timely filing that was rejected and then refiled as one of the extraordinary circumstances that can excuse lateness, under 8 C.F.R. 208.4(a)(5). Exceptions are not automatic, and you do not want to depend on one. Our post on one-year deadline exceptions goes through them.

A short checklist before you file

• Pay the $100 fee the correct way for where you are filing (USCIS or the immigration court).
• In court, use the EOIR Payment Portal and attach the downloaded receipt.
• Answer every question on the I-589 and sign it.
• List your spouse and children, and include one extra copy of the form for each dependent you include.
• If your one-year deadline is close, file early enough that a rejection can be fixed in time.
• Keep copies of everything you file and every receipt.

Fee rules for asylum have changed several times since 2025. The fiscal year 2027 inflation notices keep the I-589 fee at $100, at USCIS for filings postmarked on or after October 16, 2026 (91 FR 62540) and at EOIR from October 1, 2026 (91 FR 61447). Before you file, and especially if your one-year deadline is near, talk to an immigration lawyer about your own case.