Federal Court Temporarily Blocks Penalties for Unpaid Annual Asylum Fees
- Laureen
- 1 day ago
- 6 min read
Updated July 26, 2026
A federal court has temporarily blocked USCIS from rejecting a pending asylum application, terminating asylum-based employment authorization, or initiating removal proceedings solely because an asylum applicant failed to pay the annual asylum fee.
The July 21, 2026, order in Venezuelan Association of Massachusetts v. USCIS provides important protection for asylum applicants who missed a USCIS payment deadline. However, it does not eliminate the annual asylum fee, excuse future payment, or necessarily protect asylum cases pending in immigration court.
The safest course remains to check whether the fee is due and pay it whenever USCIS permits payment.
What is the annual asylum fee?
The annual asylum fee is a new fee imposed on people whose Form I-589, Application for Asylum and for Withholding of Removal, remains pending for at least one year.
The current annual asylum fee is $102. It is charged per asylum application, not per person included in the application. For example, a spouse and children included as derivatives on one Form I-589 generally do not each owe a separate fee. If family members filed separate asylum applications, however, each application may require its own annual fee.
There is no fee waiver for the annual asylum fee. The government may also adjust the amount for inflation in future years.
This annual fee is separate from the filing fee required when a new asylum application is submitted.
What did the federal court block?
On July 21, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts issued an administrative stay in Venezuelan Association of Massachusetts v. USCIS.
While that order remains in effect, USCIS may not:
Reject a pending asylum application solely because the annual asylum fee was not paid;
Terminate asylum-based employment authorization solely because the fee was not paid; or
Initiate removal proceedings solely because an applicant failed to pay the annual asylum fee.
The order responds to serious problems with USCIS’s implementation of the fee. Some asylum applicants reportedly did not receive adequate notice that payment was due, discovered the obligation only after the payment window had closed, or could not access a reliable method for making the required payment.
USCIS has confirmed that it will comply with the court’s temporary order. The court is expected to consider additional relief after a hearing scheduled for July 30, 2026, and indicated that it would issue another decision by August 5, 2026.
Was the annual asylum fee eliminated?
No. The court did not eliminate or suspend USCIS’s authority to collect the annual asylum fee.
USCIS may continue sending annual asylum fee notices and accepting payments. An applicant who receives a notice should not ignore it simply because the court temporarily blocked certain penalties for nonpayment.
The order protects applicants from specified consequences while the litigation continues. It does not erase the underlying payment obligation, and the court could later modify or end the temporary protection.
Should asylum applicants still pay the annual fee?
Yes. An asylum applicant should continue checking whether the annual fee is due and should pay it before the deadline whenever payment is available.
For cases pending with USCIS, the agency is generally supposed to issue a notice explaining the amount due, the method of payment, and the applicable deadline. The USCIS regulations ordinarily provide 30 days from the date of the notice to pay.
Unfortunately, some applicants have reported that they never received the notice. Others discovered that USCIS considered the payment period expired before they learned that payment was required.
Applicants with USCIS asylum cases pending for more than one year should therefore monitor:
Their regular mail;
Their USCIS online account, if they have one;
Any email or text notifications from USCIS; and
The USCIS annual asylum fee payment system.
The fee can be checked through the USCIS Annual Asylum Fee payment page. Applicants generally need their A-Number and Form I-589 receipt number.
What should someone do if the USCIS payment page says the deadline expired?
An applicant who did not receive a fee notice but discovers that the USCIS payment period has expired should document the problem immediately.
Save a screenshot showing the expired payment period, including the date. Keep copies of any notices, envelopes, online-account messages, emails, and attempts to make payment. The applicant or attorney should also consider contacting USCIS and requesting that the payment window be reopened.
The July 21 court order currently prevents USCIS from imposing the specified penalties solely because the applicant missed the fee deadline. Nevertheless, documenting the lack of notice and efforts to pay remains important because the order is temporary and the litigation is continuing.
Does the court order restore an asylum application that USCIS already rejected?
Not automatically.
The order prevents USCIS from applying the challenged penalties while the administrative stay remains in effect, but it does not necessarily reopen every asylum application that USCIS rejected before July 21.
Anyone whose asylum application was already rejected, whose employment authorization was terminated, or who received a Notice to Appear because of an unpaid annual asylum fee should obtain an individualized review. The court order may provide a basis to request corrective action, but the proper procedure will depend on what USCIS did and when it occurred.
Does the ruling apply to asylum cases in immigration court?
No. This is one of the most important limitations of the decision.
The July 21 order concerns USCIS’s implementation of the annual asylum fee. It does not presently prevent an immigration judge from requiring payment in a case pending before the Executive Office for Immigration Review.
Asylum applicants in removal proceedings must follow any fee order issued by the immigration judge. Failure to pay by the court’s deadline may result in the asylum application being treated as abandoned, dismissed, or denied.
Payment for an immigration court case is made through the EOIR Payment Portal. After paying, the applicant should preserve the receipt and submit proof of payment to the immigration court by the deadline stated in the judge’s order.
A separate lawsuit challenges EOIR’s implementation of the annual asylum fee, but the earlier injunction in that case was lifted on February 2, 2026. As of July 26, immigration courts remain permitted to require the fee.
What if the asylum case is before the BIA?
The July 21 USCIS order does not clearly resolve annual-fee requirements for asylum cases pending before the Board of Immigration Appeals.
An applicant who receives a written payment order from the BIA should comply with the deadline stated in that order. Because the government has not provided clear and consistent procedures for every BIA or federal-court posture, applicants should not assume that payment made at an earlier stage automatically satisfies a later annual fee.
All prior payment receipts should be retained throughout the asylum case and any appeal.
Does missing the annual asylum fee automatically end a work permit?
For a USCIS asylum case, not while the July 21 administrative stay remains in effect if nonpayment is the sole reason for termination.
Before the court intervened, USCIS’s regulations provided that rejection of an asylum application for nonpayment could immediately affect associated employment authorization. The court temporarily blocked USCIS from terminating asylum-based employment authorization solely on that basis.
The order does not extend an expired work permit, cure an unrelated eligibility problem, or prevent USCIS from taking action for another lawful reason.
What should asylum applicants do now?
The federal court’s order provides meaningful temporary protection, especially for applicants who never received a usable payment notice. It does not make the annual asylum fee disappear.
Asylum applicants should continue checking for fee notices, pay the fee when USCIS or the immigration court permits payment, preserve every receipt, and document any technical problem or lack of notice. Applicants who already experienced a rejection, loss of work authorization, or initiation of removal proceedings because of an unpaid fee should have the action reviewed promptly.
The rules are different depending on whether the asylum application is pending with USCIS, an immigration judge, or the BIA. Determining where the case is pending is therefore the first step in determining where the fee must be paid and whether the July 21 court order provides protection.
The litigation remains active, and the requirements may change again after the court’s next decision.
