The Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) proposed this Tuesday an increase in the fees in most of its procedures to "more fully recover its operating expenses, restore and maintain the timely processing of cases and avoid the delays in future procedures”, according to the official information published on its website.
Some processes will not undergo changes or will drop in price, but in others increases from 25 dollars to 900 dollars are contemplated, depending on the nature of the procedure.
Two people are seen in an office of the Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS in English).Getty Images
For the increase to be applied, a 60-day public comment period must be met, which begins after the proposal is published in the Federal Register, and after obeying certain protocols until the final rule enters into force.
USCIS alleged that
it has not raised its fees since 2016
and that in 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a “drastic reduction in the receipt of new applications, which resulted in a temporary decrease in revenue of 40 %”.
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With the anticipated changes, you could receive $5.2 billion annually during fiscal years 2022 and 2023. If the new rates are not applied, you would receive $3.28 billion (not taking into account the
premium
processing service).
The 1.9 billion dollar difference is necessary, according to USCIS, to adjust its capacity to resolve the cases received, which have returned to their pre-pandemic pace, and avoid delays in the future when hiring more staff.
The agency, he explained,
receives approximately 96% of its funding from these fees,
which "are a long way from recovering the full cost of operations."
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“The combination of the depletion of cash reserves, the temporary hiring freeze, and the attrition of the payroll has reduced the agency's ability to resolve cases on time,” he justified.
These are some of the most common procedures that could increase in price
, if the proposal is approved (in some cases the fee varies if the form is submitted online or on paper, it also depends on whether the cost of biometric appointments is included) :
I-765 - Application for employment authorization:
an increase is contemplated from $495 to $555 if the form is submitted online and from $495 to $650 if it is submitted on paper.
I-601A - Application for Provisional Waiver for Irregular Presence:
the price of this waiver will increase from $630 to $1,105.
I-751 - Petition to Remove Conditions on Residence:
an increase from $595 to $1,195 is proposed.
I-130 - Alien Relative Petition:
if the process is done online it will go up from $535 to $710 and if the paper form is sent it will be from $535 to $820.
N-400 - Application for Naturalization:
online or paper will go from $640 to $760.
In cases such as investment visas, the increase is much higher.
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USCIS promised to maintain “the current fee waiver for low-income and vulnerable populations” and add new ones for certain humanitarian programs.
The Application for Asylum and Withholding of Removal (I-589) form is not included in the proposal and will continue to be free.
In a statement posted on its Twitter account, the National Partnership for New Americans (NPNA), a network that includes at least 60 organizations in favor of migrants, urged the population and other entities to speak out against the proposal to consider that it will impact vulnerable people.
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“Citizenship and other immigration benefits remain out of reach for so many low-income people that even minimal fee increases will exacerbate current disparities in access,” said Nicole Melaku, Director of the NPNA.
From January 4 to March 6, there is a public comment period, after which "the federal government has a legal obligation to review and address substantive comments before finalizing the regulation, which can take several months." , detailed the NPNA.
A rate increase under the Trump Administration was blocked by a court shortly before it went into effect in October 2020, after being proposed in November 2019.