Yesterday, due to lower than projected fee revenues, USCIS proposed a fee increase that will amount to an average increase of 10% across the board. USCIS will issue the formal proposal on Friday and there will be a 45 day comment period. This, in combination with the 66% fee increase that was implemented in 2007, constitutes a tremendous hit in the pocketbook for a variety of users of immigration services. For example, an I-130 petition for an alien relative will jump from $355 to $420, under this proposal, thus impacting those who want to be reunited with family members. An I-131 application for a travel document goes up by $55, and an application for an employment authorization document increases by $40. Adjustment of status fees will increase by $55. Businesses will also bear some of the brunt, with I-140 petitions for immigrant workers increasing over $100, premium processing going up by $225 and a brand new fee of $6,230 to establish a Regional Center under the EB-5 program. And –perhaps the coup de grace—fees for filing I-290 Notices of Appeal will increase from $585 to $630, a $45 dollar increase that will allow us to continue to file appeals that take over 2 years to adjudicate and generally conclude with either a rubber stamping of the original decision, or as in a handful of recent AAO decisions, a tortured legal analysis resulting in increasingly restrictive interpretations of the law.
You can read the entire blog post dated June 11, 2010 here.
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