Final Rule for USCIS fee increases

[gregcrs2 1,778]

WASHINGTON—Today, the Department of Homeland Security announced a final rule that adjusts fees for certain immigration and naturalization benefit requests to ensure U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services recovers its costs of services.

Unlike most government agencies, USCIS is fee funded. Fees collected and deposited into the Immigration Examinations Fee Account fund nearly 97% of USCIS’ budget.

As required by federal law, USCIS conducted a comprehensive biennial fee review and determined that current fees do not recover the cost of providing adjudication and naturalization services. DHS is adjusting USCIS fees by a weighted average increase of 20% to help recover its operational costs. Current fees would leave the agency underfunded by about $1 billion per year.

“USCIS is required to examine incoming and outgoing expenditures and make adjustments based on that analysis,” said Joseph Edlow, USCIS deputy director for policy. “These overdue adjustments in fees are necessary to efficiently and fairly administer our nation’s lawful immigration system, secure the homeland and protect Americans.”

The rule accounts for increased costs to adjudicate immigration benefit requests, detect and deter immigration fraud, and thoroughly vet applicants, petitioners and beneficiaries. The rule also supports payroll, technology and operations to accomplish the USCIS mission. The rule removes certain fee exemptions, includes new nominal fees for asylum applicants, and reduces fee waivers to help recover the costs of adjudication.

This final rule also encourages online filing by providing a $10 reduction in the fee for applicants who submit forms online that are electronically available from USCIS. Online filing is the most secure, efficient, cost-effective and convenient way to submit a request with USCIS.

USCIS last updated its fee structure in December 2016 by a weighted average increase of 21%.

For a full list of changes and a complete table of final fees, see the final rule.

This final rule is effective Oct. 2, 2020. Any application, petition, or request postmarked on or after this date must include payment of the new, correct fees established by this final rule.

 

Wow, the N-400 fee increases by 81%.

[JFH 12,190]

81% increase for N-400! And that’s with the online filing “discount” of 10 bucks. From $640 to $1160. That’s insane. Especially when there is such disparity between the offices. I filed in September of last year and am not expected to be done before January 2021. People who filed in February this year in other offices are already USCs. They need to address that first before they hike their prices so much. 

[ultrasoul 51]

6 minutes ago, JFH said:

81% increase for N-400! And that’s with the online filing “discount” of 10 bucks. From $640 to $1160. That’s insane. Especially when there is such disparity between the offices. I filed in September of last year and am not expected to be done before January 2021. People who filed in February this year in other offices are already USCs. They need to address that first before they hike their prices so much. 

@JFH don't forget this doesn't yet include the proposed additional 10% surcharge when the $1.2B bailout gets approved

[igoyougoduke 1,662]

32 minutes ago, JFH said:

81% increase for N-400! And that’s with the online filing “discount” of 10 bucks. From $640 to $1160. That’s insane. Especially when there is such disparity between the offices. I filed in September of last year and am not expected to be done before January 2021. People who filed in February this year in other offices are already USCs. They need to address that first before they hike their prices so much. 

10$ is hardly an incentive for transition to online.  I guess we are living in an era of ... you cant ask questions about processing. its the US government. they can do what they want.. sarcasm here 

Edited July 31, 2020 by James120383

[ultrasoul 51]

1 hour ago, James120383 said:

10$ is hardly an incentive for transition to online.  I guess we are living in an era of ... you cant ask questions about processing. its the US government. they can do what they want.. sarcasm here 

Online filling is much superior than paper filling. You get your case number right away and any communication or correspondence sent by the USCIS is available right away in PDF (the same paper communications then arrives 2 weeks later).

 

The only issue is most forms cannot be filled online still even though the online filling initiative transformation started more than 6 years ago ...

[JacobP 186]

Also removes the fee waiver for EAD and AP for I-485 applicants. New costs will total $2300 for all of it, and no free renewals. That's an over 100% fee increase for the same benefits, and wait times for I-485 applications are probably not getting any shorter. And embassies still aren't issuing K-1s, so it's practically set in stone for us.

Edited July 31, 2020 by JacobP

[brownbears13 19]

Wait does this mean we have to pay $410 to renew the EAD?

[Just Paul 4,595]

3 minutes ago, Sara + Kevin said:

Wait does this mean we have to pay $410 to renew the EAD?

Yes

[Scandi 4,173]

6 minutes ago, Sara + Kevin said:

Wait does this mean we have to pay $410 to renew the EAD?

Yes, from October 2nd the i-765 and i-131 will no longer be for free when you file to adjust your status, or to renew the i-765.

 

Also, the proposal showed that they wanted ro raise the fee for the i-765 by 20%, from $410 to $490.

 

The i-131 will be close to $600.

Edited July 31, 2020 by Scandi

[brownbears13 19]

Thanks both. If we received EAD 3/2 can we apply for renewal before they impose the new fees on 10/2?

[Scandi 4,173]

2 minutes ago, Sara + Kevin said:

Thanks both. If we received EAD 3/2 can we apply for renewal before they impose the new fees on 10/2?

Don't file to renew if you have more than 180 days left on the EAD. If you're within those 180 days you can file to renew.

[Letspaintcookies 2,310]

Wow. That means if I would have to renew the EAD/AP it would cost almost as much as the initial AOS filing just because they can't figure their stuff out 😂😂😂

 

I mean we knew that it would come but that's quite a raise.

[geowrian 22,337]

Summary after a very quick skim...

 

Family petitions

I-129F very slightly cheaper

I-130 very slightly more expensive

 

Waivers

I-601 moderate increase

I-601A very large increase

 

I-485 very slightly cheaper for most (children applying with a parent pay the normal fee now, which is a fairly large increase)

I-751 (ROC) large increase

N-400 (naturalization) massive increase

NOTE: Unless I misread something (see page 424), the biometrics fee is now built into these above. So part of those large increases is due to the separate $85 biometrics no longer being required for most individuals.

 

I-131 very slightly cheaper, and no longer waived when filed due to an I-485

I-765 large increase, and no longer waived when filed due to an I-485

This is one is going to hurt. That makes AOS for most individuals much more expensive. This is estimated to increase revenue by $600 million.

 

Quote

DHS makes no changes in this rule in response to the pandemic. USCIS considers all available data at the time it conducts its fee review. USCIS conducted most of the FY 2019/2020 fee review in FY 2017, before the emergence of the pandemic. At that time, USCIS did not foresee, and could not reasonably have foreseen, the effects of such a pandemic on USCIS receipt, revenue, or cost projections during the FY 2019/2020 biennial period, and we cannot project the effects at this time

Oh good...it's based on data from 2016 to 2017. No way that isn't stale...

 

Other tidbits...

* An I-131A to get what is akin to a boarding foil can now be used for AP holders who lost their AP document.

* Many fee waivers eliminated ($369 million estimated). Anybody who is covered by an active I-864 or who may be a public charge is excluded from eligibility.

* The fee for a returned check is eliminated

* "Secure documents" will be sent with a special USPS service requiring signature confirmation with restricted delivery. Presumably this are the cards (EAD, green card, etc.).

* Premium processing now commits to 15 business days instead of 15 calendar days

* EADs fees added for asylum applicants ($119 million)

* Asylum applicants now have to pay a $50 fee (a surprising large contention point...)

[Loren Y 2,756]

The fees for AOS are definitely not good, unless they really increase processing time so you don't have to renew EAD and AP card. Since they aren't free anymore, that's just an incentive to increase revenue by taking your time doing AOS interviews. The ROC is the only fair increase, it's going up to 760 total, but if that includes the biometric fee it is really only a 80 dollar increase from the old fee (595+85=680). But that's tough to figure out if they are including biometric fees now. 

The real hose job is the N400. That's completely insane. I definitely don't agree with a 81% increase on the most important one to become a citizen. There is obviously some underlying reason for that.

[juancarlos 126]

Wow man, immigration in this country is becoming a really hard and tough enterprise