USCIS proposed price increase (Merged)

[Rafagus 68]

 

And the funny thing is that according to the proposed new rule it USCIS dedicates on average 4.7 hours to make decisions on I-751 forms....

 

just read the article in the CATO institute website and it says it takes only 1.54 hours to complete the I-751 form!!!  and we have to wait more than 2 years??

 

 

And I think it is unfair to base the fees on the supposed wealth of the petitioners, should be based on actual cost

 

[Cathi 5,771]

I wouldn't be surprised if eventually the fiancé visa disappears all together, along with the sibling category.

[Rafagus 68]

7 minutes ago, Cathi said:

I wouldn't be surprised if eventually the fiancé visa disappears all together, along with the sibling category.

The original plan under the steven miller administration was to get rid of the parents, siblings, and adult children categories....

[jackiegringa 419]

1 hour ago, beloved_dingo said:

If this increase goes through ROC will be more of a racket than it already is. Most USCIS filings are optional. I mean you don't HAVE to work or study in the U.S. You don't HAVE to live in the U.S. just because you marry a U.S. spouse (in most cases). You don't HAVE to file for citizenship. But conditional LPRs HAVE to file ROC. And yet they make it an annoying, lengthy and expensive process. 😤

Regardless if the K-1 goes away officially or not, this fee increase will make it dead in practice in my opinion.

 

It's already more advantageous to start a CR-1 process if your partner is not in the US by other means, and even more so now it will be to wait until 2nd year of marriage to get to the US with a 10 year green card and bypass this ridiculous burden of filing ROC.

 

Only green card holders via marriage have to do this process right? It is such a pain to have to file what is basically a second AOS in 2 years and be eligible for citizenship before being granted your green card. Waste of money, time and USCIS resources. I do not buy that this increase will make the process faster whatsoever.

[AJ2019 58]

12 hours ago, Dave Knapp said:

Maybe the intent of the large increase in fees is to permit them to staff up so that they can get the processing done within the timeframe they used to do it in. Just a thought.

Actually this article said:

 

https://www.marketplace.org/2023/01/04/immigration-fees-would-increase-under-new-uscis-proposal/amp/

 

“That money would go toward an unrelated cost: processing the claims of people seeking asylum.”

[Tereza 27]

52 minutes ago, jackiegringa said:

Only green card holders via marriage have to do this process right? It is such a pain to have to file what is basically a second AOS in 2 years and be eligible for citizenship before being granted your green card. Waste of money, time and USCIS resources. I do not buy that this increase will make the process faster whatsoever.

US citizens too

[Family 4,065]

1 hour ago, jackiegringa said:

Only green card holders via marriage have to do this process right? It is such a pain to have to file what is basically a second AOS in 2 years and be eligible for citizenship before being granted your green card. Waste of money, time and USCIS resources. I do not buy that this increase will make the process faster whatsoever

Well even million dollar investors have a conditional green card and must ROC after 2 years..

[Family 4,065]

1 hour ago, AJ2019 said:

13 hours ago, Dave Knapp said:

Maybe the intent of the large increase in fees is to permit them to staff up so that they can get the processing done within the timeframe they used to do it in. Just a thought.

Actually this article said:

 

https://www.marketplace.org/2023/01/04/immigration-fees-would-increase-under-new-uscis-proposal/amp/

 

“That money would go toward an unrelated cost: processing the claims of people seeking asylum.”

The proposed budget allocations. I believe it says they are working w 7k total workforce positions…and handling the world’s largest such.

 

Considering the US is home to 45 million foreign born ( I am among those) so approx 15% of our population…it’s still the largest and most immigrant friendly system in the world. 
 

 

https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/reports/U.S._Citizenship_and_Immigration_Services’_Budget_Overview_Document_for Fiscal_Year_2023.pdf

[Dashinka 24,641]

Interesting, probably not unexpected.

 

USCIS Issues Proposed Rule to Adjust Certain Immigration and Naturalization Fees

 

 

Release Date 

01/03/2023

WASHINGTON—Today, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to adjust certain immigration and naturalization benefit request fees. The new fees would allow USCIS to more fully recover its operating costs, reestablish and maintain timely case processing, and prevent the accumulation of future case backlogs. USCIS receives approximately 96 percent of its funding from filing fees, not from congressional appropriations.

 

The proposed fee rule is the result of a comprehensive fee review at USCIS. That review determined that the agency’s current fees, which have remained unchanged since 2016, fall far short of recovering the full cost of agency operations. USCIS generally publishes a fee rule biennially, and proposes these changes to account for the expansion of humanitarian programs, federally mandated pay raises, additional staffing requirements, and other essential investments.

 

In 2020, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic led to a dramatic reduction in receipts of new applications, resulting in a temporary drop in revenue by 40 percent. The combination of depleted cash reserves, a temporary hiring freeze, and workforce attrition has reduced the agency’s capacity to timely adjudicate cases, particularly as incoming caseloads rebound to pre-pandemic levels.

 

https://www.uscis.gov/newsroom/news-releases/uscis-issues-proposed-rule-to-adjust-certain-immigration-and-naturalization-fees

[beloved_dingo 1,979]

4 hours ago, Tereza said:

I am immigrating in 2 weeks on CR-1 as our 2 year anniversarry is in 6 months. It is just sad that this will only incentivise couples to stay apart for longer. We have done 5 years long distance, so we're to a point where every extra day is just too much, nevermind I already have my plane ticket purchased. But I nearly about cried when I saw the proposed fee. They're putting arbitrary cut off for married couples for no reason and then jack the price up like this to remove conditions that didnt even have a reason to be there... for what? Gosh I'm so mad with this entire process, every time I think nothing can surprise me anymore, they come with something that totally flabbergastes me.

Just remember that this is only a proposed increase, so there is a real chance the final numbers will be different. I hope that is the case because it certainly is unfair imo. 

[Dashinka 24,641]

On 1/3/2023 at 11:04 PM, Kai G. Llewellyn said:

I-751 fee increase is quite bonkers to be honest. Seems quite unfair that folks that by definition are permanent residents, but have conditions on them that they have to file this stupid form otherwise face removal are being extorted up the backside for it. Go figure, easy targets.

 

I wouldn't mind so much if it came with some guarantee that they'd process these within 12 months, but it's a tough pill to swallow when these forms are yeeted into a USCIS pit only to be fished out when the N-400 forces their hand.

How else would USCIS make money to pay for all the free services.  Kind of surprised the I-90 fee is not also being raised.

[Dashinka 24,641]

On 1/4/2023 at 10:44 AM, Boiler said:

It is just a money grab, they need the income for the millions of cases they have to handle that are charged little or nothing

+1,000

[JeanneAdil 6,583]

one site i read (and sorry,  as i quoted it -uscis site) said I 130 would only go up $15

this federal registration page shows the proposed I 130 for family would be $710 online and paper would be $820

 

the I 751 is 101% increase and the I 601 waiver up 75%

 

 

The different variations of cost of AOS are interesting 

[DaveAndAnastasia 2,093]

12 minutes ago, Dashinka said:

How else would USCIS make money to pay for all the free services.  Kind of surprised the I-90 fee is not also being raised.

I have a radical idea: Congress could fund USCIS for free and reduced-fee services out of general federal revenues (since USCIS's entire budget is a rounding error in the federal budget), and fees for things they are allowed to charge fees for should be proportional to costs.

 

/of course, Anastasia's N-400 is already paid for, so we're actually done with USCIS fees

[SalishSea 17,970]

4 hours ago, Rocio0010 said:

And the whole purpose of it is just stupid. They say it's to prevent marriage fraud. But if they're really worried about marriage fraud, then don't take that long to dig into a case.

And spend the resources investigating those who marry and AOS after meeting a USC on a two week vacation.