Advance Parole Fee: Costs, Waivers, and the $1,020 Rule

The advance parole fee has two parts as of fiscal year 2026: a base filing fee for Form I-131 of $630 by paper or $580 online, and a separate $1,020 immigration parole fee that comes due once U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services conditionally approves your application. A typical paper filer pays $1,650 in total before traveling; an online filer pays $1,600. Both charges are non-refundable, and the $1,020 portion cannot be waived.¹

What the Base Filing Fee Is

The base fee for Form I-131 is set by the USCIS fee schedule (edition 03/23/26) and depends only on how you file, not on which qualifying status you hold:

Paper filing: $630
Online filing: $580

That price applies whether your advance parole is tied to a pending adjustment of status (Form I-485), Temporary Protected Status, Deferred Enforced Departure, an approved DACA request, or most other qualifying categories. Online filing is available for most of them; asylum-based applicants with a pending I-589 must file on paper.²

Two groups pay nothing for the base fee: approved T-visa holders and approved U-visa holders file at $0.¹

The Pre-April 2024 Adjustment Exemption

If you filed Form I-485 on or after July 30, 2007, but before April 1, 2024, and paid the required I-485 fee at the time, your base I-131 fee is $0 for as long as that adjustment application remains pending. Under the older fee structure, the advance parole document and the employment authorization document were bundled into the I-485 cost. That bundling ended for adjustment applications filed on or after April 1, 2024, which is why standalone I-131 filings after that date carry the $630 fee.¹

The exemption zeroes out only the base filing fee. The $1,020 parole fee below still applies at approval.

The $1,020 Immigration Parole Fee

Public Law 119-21 (commonly referenced as H.R. 1) added a separate immigration parole fee that applies each time you seek parole at a port of entry. When USCIS conditionally approves your I-131, it will notify you that you must pay $1,020 before the parole is actually granted.¹

Two things about this fee catch people off guard. First, it cannot be waived. Public Law 119-21 prohibits fee waiver requests for this charge, though USCIS and CBP may grant exceptions in limited circumstances. Second, it is subject to annual inflation adjustments beginning January 1, 2026, so the amount will drift upward over time.

One narrow class is exempt: Members of the Ms. L. Settlement Class and their Qualifying Additional Family Members do not owe the immigration parole fee as of February 5, 2026, under a federal court order.²

So the running total for a typical applicant in 2026 looks like this: paper filers pay $1,650 ($630 + $1,020), online filers pay $1,600 ($580 + $1,020), and applicants covered by the pre-April 2024 I-485 exemption pay $1,020.

Fee Waivers Are Limited

Fee waiver availability for Form I-131 is narrower than many applicants expect. USCIS accepts Form I-912 (Request for Fee Waiver) for I-131 filings when you are applying for humanitarian parole, but the waiver does not cover all advance parole categories.³ If your advance parole is based on a pending adjustment filed before April 1, 2024, the base fee is already $0, so a waiver is unnecessary for that portion.

Where a waiver is available, you qualify by showing receipt of a means-tested government benefit, household income at or below 150 percent of the Federal Poverty Guidelines, or a specific financial hardship such as a medical emergency or sudden job loss. Supporting documentation includes benefit award letters, recent tax returns, or pay stubs.³

Again, no waiver reaches the $1,020 parole fee.

How to Pay

USCIS overhauled its payment rules, and the change trips up many paper filers. The agency no longer accepts personal checks, business checks, money orders, or cashier’s checks for paper-filed forms unless you qualify for a specific exemption.⁴

For a mailed Form I-131, you have two standard payment options:

Credit, debit, or prepaid card. Complete Form G-1450 (Authorization for Credit Card Transactions) and place it on top of your application packet.⁵
ACH bank transfer. Complete Form G-1650 (Authorization for ACH Transactions) to authorize a direct withdrawal from a U.S. bank account.

If you file online through myUSCIS, you pay through Pay.gov as part of the submission. That path is generally smoother than mailing a G-1450 with a paper packet, and it saves the $50 difference in the base fee.² One caution: you cannot change or amend the application type after filing online, and selecting the wrong category can result in denial with no fee refund.

The narrow exception for paper-based payments requires you to file Form G-1651 and show that you lack access to banking services, that electronic payment would cause undue hardship, or that other limited criteria apply.⁴ If you qualify, checks or money orders must be drawn on a U.S. financial institution, payable to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and dated within the previous 365 days.

A mismatched payment amount or an outdated form version will get your entire packet rejected. Check the current fee schedule before mailing anything, and use a trackable shipping method so you have proof of delivery.

Emergency and Expedited Filings

If you need to travel urgently, USCIS offers two faster tracks, and neither charges an additional fee beyond the standard filing cost.

An expedite request on a pending I-131 is free. USCIS evaluates these case by case, and you need documentation showing why the normal timeline would cause serious harm. Common grounds include severe financial loss to a company or individual, urgent humanitarian situations, and nonprofit requests tied to U.S. government interests.⁶ Simply wanting to travel sooner does not qualify.

Emergency advance parole is issued at USCIS field offices when the situation cannot wait for expedited processing. You must call the USCIS Contact Center to schedule an in-person appointment. Qualifying emergencies include a pressing need to travel abroad for medical treatment, the death or serious illness of a family member or close friend, or a pending expedited case where you must travel within 15 days for a critical commitment.⁷

In-person payments at field offices can be made by credit, debit, or prepaid card (Form G-1450) or ACH transfer (Form G-1650). You cannot split the payment across multiple cards.⁴

What Happens If You Skip It

The fee is significant, and the cost of not paying it is higher. If you leave the United States while your adjustment of status application is pending and you do not have advance parole, USCIS treats your departure as an abandonment of that application.⁸ You lose your place in line, the filing fees you already paid for the underlying case, and potentially years of waiting. Depending on your immigration history, departing without authorization can also trigger bars on re-entry.

Advance parole itself does not guarantee re-entry; it lets you present yourself at a port of entry and request admission. But it is what keeps the application you already paid for alive while you travel.

1
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. G-1055, Fee Schedule
2
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-131, Application for Travel Documents, Parole Documents, and Arrival/Departure Records
3
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-912, Request for Fee Waiver
4
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Filing Fees
5
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. G-1450, Authorization for Credit Card Transactions
6
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Expedite Requests
7
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Emergency Travel
8
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Policy Manual Volume 7 – Part B – Chapter 5