US Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) announced earlier this month a proposed rule to adjust the fee schedule by a weighted average increase of twenty-one percent. In making the announcement, USCIS noted that unlike most government agencies, USCIS is fee-funded and claims the current fees if left unchanged would underfund the agency by approximately $1.3 billion per year. “USCIS is required to examine incoming and outgoing expenditures, just like a business, and make adjustments based on that analysis,” Ken Cuccinelli, acting director of USCIS, said in a statement. “This proposed adjustment in fees would ensure more applicants cover the true cost of their applications and minimizes subsidies from an already over-extended system.”
USCIS notes that the final fee schedule may change due to public comments, any policy modifications, and importantly, depending on the Supreme Court decision to the challenge to the Trump administration’s termination of DACA, as well as if USCIS cannot transfer $207.6 million to Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE). Taking into account various outcomes, the proposed rule in fact lists six fee schedule scenarios with the weighted average increase ranging from fifteen percent to twenty-five percent.
While the exact numbers may vary according to the various scenarios, USCIS is proposing to make the following changes:
Increase fees for I-129 H-1B petitions from $460 to $560 (twenty-two percent increase), for I-129 O petitions from $460 to $715 (fifty-five percent increase), and for I-129 L petitions from $460 to $815 (seventy-seven percent increase);
Increase N-400 fee (application for citizenship) from $640 to $1,170 (eighty-three percent increase), which would potentially affect approximately nine million immigrants currently eligible to become US citizens;
Increase total fees for I-485 (adjustment of status to permanent residence), including interim benefits and biometric fee, from $1,225 to $2,195 (increase of seventy-nine percent);
Increase total renewal fees from $495 to $765 (fifty-five percent increase) for participants in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program;
For the first time ever, impose a $50 application fee for I-589 asylum applications and require asylum applicants to pay a $490 fee for their initial employment authorization document (currently not required);
Change premium processing timeframe from 15 calendar to 15 business days, a move that USCIS acknowledges could make employers “lose some productivity,” which some immigration practitioners argue is an understatement; and
Transfer $207.6 million of USCIS funding to ICE for investigations of nonimmigrant and immigrant visa fraud, including investigations that could lead to denaturalization.
"It's an unprecedented weaponization of government fees," Doug Rand, a former Obama-era White House official who co-founded Boundless, which helps immigrants navigate the US immigration system, said in a statement. Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, speaking to NBC labeled the fee changes "a targeted and brazen attack especially on those who are poor and vulnerable" since its effect would be to exclude immigrants "of their rightful place in our communities and in America." This proposed rule comes at a time when USCIS is also proposing drastic changes to the fee waiver application, designed to significantly decrease the number of people eligible to file their applications without a fee.
USCIS last updated the agency’s fee schedule in fiscal year 2017 by a weighted average increase of twenty-one percent. The public comment period ends December 16, 2019, and afterwards USCIS is legally obligated to consider comments before the new fees can be implemented. It will likely be at least a few more months before these news fees take effect.