05 Jan USCIS Issues Proposed Rule to Adjust Certain Immigration & Naturalization Fees
The US Citizenship & Immigration Services (“USCIS”), the agency that adjudicates US immigration benefits within the United States is proposes a change to many of the filing fees for US visa, green card or naturalization applications. The proposed rulemaking will be open fo review and comment until March 6, 2023. For more information, here is the announcement from the USCIS:
USCIS Issues Proposed Rule to Adjust Certain Immigration and Naturalization FeesToday, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) posted a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking 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. Overview The proposed rule would increase some fees, including a modest increase in the fee for certain naturalization applications, while preserving existing fee waiver eligibility for low-income and vulnerable populations and adding new fee exemptions for certain humanitarian programs. If finalized, the proposed rule would decrease or minimally increase fees for more than one million low-income filers each year. New measures include a proposal to incorporate biometrics costs into the main benefit fee and remove the separate biometric services fee; establish separate fees for each nonimmigrant classification covered by Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Workers; change the premium processing timeframe from 15 calendar days to 15 business days; and institute lower fees for certain forms filed online. The proposed rule would not change fee waiver eligibility requirements. For more details, please see our new FAQs on the proposed fee rule. Background To Submit Comments Please note this is not considered legal advice and is for informational purposes only. |