What it costs
The numbers are on this page.
Price is usually the one thing you cannot find on a law firm website. So it is on this one: what I charge, what the government charges, and what else a case tends to cost, listed separately so you can see which is which.
Start here
Three ways in, listed in order of what they cost.
Intake
Free
My paralegal team, not me · 15 minutes
This step is intake and scheduling. My paralegals do not give legal advice, do not tell you whether you qualify for anything, and do not recommend a visa category. That part is mine, and it happens in the attorney consultation.
Attorney consultation
$150
If you go on to retain the firm for the matter the consultation covered, the fee is credited toward your fee for that case. The credit does not expire.
Joe Kwon, the attorney who would handle the case · 60 minutes
Booking asks you to write down what you want to ask about, and that question is required. It is what lets me read your record before we sit down, which is the part you are paying for.
Case Blueprint
$500
If you retain me for the full case, the fee is credited toward your attorney fee. The credit applies once and it does not expire.
Written by Joe Kwon, then read through together
Booking does not create an attorney-client relationship.
Consultation rescheduling, cancellation and refundsThe amounts
The fees I publish
Flat attorney fees, case type by case type. Each entry shows what the fee covers, which government fees apply, and which other costs that type usually needs. Where an entry says an RFE response is included, an RFE is a Request for Evidence, a letter from USCIS asking for more proof before it decides, and answering one is inside the fee rather than a new invoice.
Quoted after I look at your situation
Employer-sponsored cases including H-1B, L-1, E-2, PERM, TN, P-1 and EB-1C, family cases, citizenship, and help on a case someone else started.
These are the firm's standard flat fees, broken out three ways: the attorney fee, government filing fees, and other costs. The attorney fee is what the firm charges. Government filing fees are set by USCIS, the Department of Labor, or the Department of State, and they change without our involvement, so always confirm the current amount before you file. Other costs are things like translations, credential evaluations, and shipping. A published fee is an estimate for a typical matter of that type, not an offer, and not a quote for your matter. Your actual fee is fixed in a written engagement agreement after we have looked at your facts. Nothing on this page creates an attorney-client relationship.
Every amount on this page is in United States dollars (USD). No amount here is converted into another currency.
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You petition for yourself
EB-2 NIW petition
- Attorney fee
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$10,000 to $12,000
Paid in stages, not all at once: at case opening, as drafting begins, before filing.
- Government filing fees
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I-140 petition fee $715
Asylum Program Fee, at the rate a self-petitioner pays $300
Premium processing on Form I-907, only if you choose it $2,965
- Other costs
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Certified translations
Credential evaluation
Courier and shipping
What this fee covers
A written case strategy and criteria map
Recommendation letters drafted for your signature
The complete petition with the legal brief, and a full copy for you
One RFE response
One re-file if one is needed. Government filing fees are yours again on a re-file.
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You petition for yourself
EB-1A petition
- Attorney fee
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$12,000 to $15,000
Paid in stages, not all at once: at case opening, as drafting begins, before filing.
- Government filing fees
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I-140 petition fee $715
Asylum Program Fee, at the rate a self-petitioner pays $300
Premium processing on Form I-907, only if you choose it $2,965
- Other costs
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Certified translations
Credential evaluation
Courier and shipping
What this fee covers
A written case strategy and criteria map
Recommendation letters drafted for your signature
The complete petition with the legal brief, and a full copy for you
One RFE response
One re-file if one is needed. Government filing fees are yours again on a re-file.
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An employer or an agent petitions for you
O-1A or O-1B petition
- Attorney fee
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$10,000 to $12,000
Paid in stages, not all at once: at case opening, as drafting begins, before filing.
- Government filing fees
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I-129 petition fee, O classification $1,055
Asylum Program Fee, at the standard employer rate $600
Premium processing on Form I-907, only if you choose it $2,965
- Other costs
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Certified translations
Courier and shipping
What this fee covers
A written case strategy and criteria map
Recommendation letters drafted for your signature
The complete petition with the legal brief, and a full copy for you
One RFE response
One re-file if one is needed. Government filing fees are yours again on a re-file.
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Quoted in writing above this floor, after I read the source of funds
EB-5 investor petition, regional center
- Attorney fee
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from$18,000
Paid in stages, not all at once: at case opening, as drafting begins, before filing.
- Government filing fees
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I-526E petition fee $11,160
EB-5 Integrity Fund fee $1,000
- Other costs
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Certified translations
Courier and shipping
What this fee covers
A written source-of-funds map
The complete source-of-funds exhibit set
The complete petition with the legal brief, and a full copy for you
The case watched through to a decision
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Priced by written proposal after I have looked at the matter
Employer-sponsored, family, and everything else
- Attorney fee
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Quoted case by case
- Government filing fees
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Set by the agency, and it depends on the form and the employer's size
- Other costs
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Billed at what they actually cost, itemized, with nothing added
What this fee covers
Set out in the written proposal
Where a case type shows a range, the difference is scope, not service level. The lower end is a record that is ready to file as it stands. The higher end is a record that needs building first.
Every engagement includes the same three things.
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A complete copy of everything filed on your behalf
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Every receipt notice from the government as it arrives
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Your case visible in the client portal
“You do not have to book anything to see these numbers.”
How it breaks down
Three lines, every time
A single all-in number is easier to put on a website. It also hides the part you would be paying even if you hired nobody, which is the part you most need to see.
| How they differ | Attorney fee | Government filing fees | Other costs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who sets the amount | This firm | USCIS, the Department of Labor, or the Department of State | The provider doing the work |
| Who you pay | This firm | The agency, directly | The provider, directly |
| How the amount is set | A flat amount, fixed in writing before anything begins | By the agency, and it is the amount in effect on the day of filing | At what it actually costs, itemized, with nothing added |
Attorney fee
- Who sets the amount
- This firm
- Who you pay
- This firm
- How the amount is set
- A flat amount, fixed in writing before anything begins
Government filing fees
- Who sets the amount
- USCIS, the Department of Labor, or the Department of State
- Who you pay
- The agency, directly
- How the amount is set
- By the agency, and it is the amount in effect on the day of filing
Other costs
- Who sets the amount
- The provider doing the work
- Who you pay
- The provider, directly
- How the amount is set
- At what it actually costs, itemized, with nothing added
Two of the three lines are set by somebody outside this engagement, and that is the reason they are shown separately rather than added up.
Attorney fee
What I charge to do the legal work. It is a flat amount, written into the engagement agreement before anything begins, and it is not billed by the hour.
Government filing fees
What USCIS, the Department of Labor, or the Department of State charges to accept a filing. I do not set any of it and I do not add anything to it. You pay these when they come due, to the agency or the provider. The amounts change by rule and sometimes by court decision, so the figure that governs your case is the one in effect the day it is filed.
Other costs
What a case needs that is not lawyering: certified translations, credential evaluations, an economist report on an investment case, courier and shipping. Billed at what they actually cost, itemized, with nothing added.
What the flat fee covers, line by line
A written case strategy and criteria map
Before any drafting starts you get the plan in writing: which criteria the case is being argued under, and where your record sits against each one.
Recommendation letters drafted for your signature
Drafting them is inside the fee. There is no charge per letter, so a petition that needs more of them does not cost more than one that needs fewer.
The complete petition with the legal brief, and a full copy for you
You get the same file the government gets, the legal brief and the exhibits together.
One RFE response
Common enough to be part of the ordinary course of a case rather than an accident, which is why it is covered rather than billed as new work.
One re-file if one is needed. Government filing fees are yours again on a re-file.
The engagement covers filing the case one more time inside the same attorney fee.
Everything else
Employer-sponsored cases, family cases, citizenship, and help on a case someone else started are quoted after I look at your situation. The work in them varies more than the category name suggests. Two marriage-based cases with identical forms can be very different amounts of work, and an average price would fit neither of them.
The case types quoted this way
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Employer-sponsored green cards: the PERM step, where an employer proves to the Department of Labor it could not find a qualified U.S. worker, then the I-140 petition.
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Employer-sponsored work visas: H-1B, L-1, E-2, TN, and P-1
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Adjustment of status, the stage where an approved petition becomes a green card application filed inside the United States
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Marriage-based green cards and K-1 fiancé visas
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Naturalization, green card renewal, and reentry permits
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Responses to an RFE or a Notice of Intent to Deny on a case another office filed, and second opinions on a petition that has not gone out yet
How billing works
No meter, no hourly clock
There is no meter. Asking me a question in the middle of your case costs nothing extra, whatever it turns into.
Paid in fixed stages
A case engagement is split into fixed stages, so the fee is not one payment at the start. A stage falls due at case opening, again as drafting begins, and again before the case is filed. The consultation and the Case Blueprint are not staged, and each is paid in full when you book it. Your engagement letter sets the stages and the amounts for your matter.
No per-letter or per-criterion add-ons
No per-criterion and no per-letter add-ons. A petition that needs seven recommendation letters costs what one that needs five costs.
Work outside the agreed scope
If the work turns out to be outside the scope in your agreement, a dependent family member, a second RFE, an appeal, a later extension, you get a written quote for it before it starts.
If a matter stops partway
If a matter stops partway, what happens to a stage already paid is set out in your engagement agreement, which is where that term lives.
What these figures are, and when they were checked
- Attorney fees effective
- 2026-09-01
- Government fees verified
- 2026-07-05
- Checked against
- USCIS Form G-1055, ed. 05/29/26; 8 CFR 106.2; USCIS premium processing final rule, effective 2026-03-01
Government filing fees are shown as of the verification date above, and the firm confirms the current amount with the agency on the day of filing.
The number that matters is the one for your case.
Yours is fixed in writing after I have seen your record, and the way to find out where you would land is to ask me.