DHS Raises HR-1 Immigration Fees for FY 2027; EPA Flags Virginia NOx Exceedance; NMFS Rebalances Alaska CDQ Flatfish

DHS FY 2027 Immigration Fee Increases Under HR-1

Three separate DHS components — U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) — are each publishing FY 2027 inflation adjustments to immigration-related fees mandated by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (HR-1), signed into law by the President on July 4, 2025. HR-1 established minimum fee amounts for FY 2025 and requires that DHS adjust covered fees annually using the percentage change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) for the month of July preceding the effective date compared to July of the preceding calendar year. Between July 2025 and July 2026, the CPI-U rose from 323.048 to 333.918, an increase of 3.36 percent, which forms the basis of all FY 2027 adjustments described in these notices.

Immigration enforcement fees (ICE). For FY 2027, DHS is setting at $5,300 the fees applicable to two categories: aliens ordered removed in absentia who are subsequently arrested by ICE, and inadmissible aliens apprehended between ports of entry. The document explains that the FY 2025 amount was $5,000, adjusted to $5,130 for FY 2026 effective December 1, 2025. For FY 2027, applying the multiplier of 1.03365 to the prior fee of $5,130 yields $5,302.62, which is then rounded down to the nearest $10 increment, producing the $5,300 figure. DHS states it will individually notify aliens to whom these fees apply and provide payment instructions as of October 16, 2026. HR-1 requires that the annual adjustment be rounded to the next lowest multiple of $10.

Parole, ESTA, EVUS, and I-94 fees (CBP/USCIS). A companion notice addresses the HR-1 parole fee — assessed on any alien paroled into the United States unless a statutory exception applies — as well as fees for the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA), enrollment in the Electronic Visa Update System (EVUS), and the CBP Form I-94 Arrival/Departure Record. CBP, USCIS, and ICE are each responsible for assessing and collecting the HR-1 parole fee. The notice states that the existing fee for Form I-94 applications will not change for FY 2027, because HR-1's rounding requirement results in no upward adjustment. CBP, USCIS, and ICE will begin assessing the FY 2027 parole fee amount on October 16, 2026.

USCIS benefit-request fees. USCIS separately announces FY 2027 adjustments to immigration fees it administers, including fees for various immigration benefit requests. The USCIS notice states that any immigration benefit request postmarked on or after October 16, 2026 without the proper filing fee will be rejected. The notice explains that most fees are rounded to the next lowest multiple of $10, while the Annual Asylum Fee is rounded down to the nearest dollar, as specified by HR-1. USCIS traces the regulatory lineage of these fees from their initial July 22, 2025 Federal Register publication through an April 29, 2026 interim final rule (91 FR 22952) that established operational procedures for collection, waivers, and exemptions, and a July 21, 2026 correcting amendment (91 FR 45637) that restored text inadvertently removed from 8 CFR 208.7(a).

EPA: Virginia NOx Exceedance Triggers Allowance-Surrender Obligation

The Environmental Protection Agency has published a notice of data availability finding that Virginia units participating in the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) NOx Ozone Season Group 2E Trading Program exceeded the State's assurance level during the 2025 control period by 80 tons of nitrogen oxides (NOx). Under CSAPR's assurance provisions, when a state's total emissions exceed its assurance level, covered sources must surrender two allowances for each ton over the threshold — in addition to the ordinary one-allowance-per-ton obligation. The 80-ton exceedance therefore triggers a requirement to surrender 160 additional allowances.

EPA explains that responsibility for surrendering the additional allowances is apportioned among groups of units in the state represented by "common designated representatives," based on the extent to which each group's emissions exceeded its share of the state's assurance level. The agency's final calculations, updated following three objections to its preliminary August 4, 2026 notice (91 FR 49430), apportion the 160-allowance obligation primarily to the group of units operated by Hopewell Power Generation, LLC, with smaller shares going to groups operated by Wolf Hills Energy, LLC; Dominion Generation; and Calpine Operating Services Company, Inc. The three objections led EPA to correct the designated representative for Hopewell Power Station, update emissions data for Remington Combustion Turbine Station Units 1, 2, and 4 based on an August 2026 data resubmittal, and correct a typographical error associating the operator for the Hunt designated representative group — changing it from Wolf Hills Energy, LLC to Tenaska Virginia Partners, LP.

NMFS Reallocates Alaska Flatfish CDQ Quota

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is issuing a temporary rule, effective October 1 through December 31, 2026, exchanging unused yellowfin sole and flathead sole Community Development Quota (CDQ) for rock sole CDQ acceptable biological catch (ABC) reserves in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI) management area. The action was triggered by a request from the Norton Sound Economic Development Corporation (NSEDC), which asked NMFS to exchange 200 metric tons (mt) of flathead sole TAC and 700 mt of yellowfin sole TAC allocated to the CDQ sector for 900 mt of rock sole CDQ ABC reserves, pursuant to 50 CFR 679.31(d) and 679.4(p). NMFS states the action is necessary to allow the CDQ fishery to optimize its total rock sole harvest in the BSAI.

NMFS states it approved NSEDC's Flatfish Exchange Application after finding it met all criteria under 50 CFR 679.4(p)(3): NSEDC holds sufficient CDQ ABC reserves of rock sole; the exchange involves equal amounts of unused flathead sole and yellowfin sole TACs; approval will not cause harvest to exceed an ABC or ABC reserve for any of the three species; NSEDC has not yet received three approved flatfish exchanges; and NMFS can approve the exchange before the end of the calendar year. The underlying 2026 CDQ allocations for flathead sole, rock sole, and yellowfin sole were established as 3,852 mt, 8,025 mt, and 15,515 mt, respectively, by the final 2026 and 2027 harvest specifications for groundfish in the BSAI (91 FR 11750, March 10, 2026). The corresponding CDQ ABC reserves were 5,532 mt, 8,905 mt, and 13,122 mt. Following the exchange, Tables 13 and 15 of those harvest specifications are revised accordingly.

What to Watch

• October 16, 2026: DHS begins assessing FY 2027 HR-1 parole fee; ICE enforcement fees of $5,300 take effect; USCIS rejects benefit requests postmarked on or after this date without updated fees.
• November 2, 2026: Owners and operators of identified Virginia units must hold 160 additional CSAPR NOx Ozone Season Group 2E allowances in an assurance account.
• December 31, 2026: The NMFS flatfish CDQ exchange rule expires.

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