U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has recently made an announcement regarding the final fee rule for the processing of immigration petitions. On June 11, 2010, the proposed rule was published by USCIS in the Federal Register. USCIS has released the adjusted fee rule after considering 225 comments that they received from stakeholders.
Effective from Nov. 23, 2010, there will be an increase in the overall processing fees for immigration petitions by an average of 10 percent, as per the final fee rule. The new fee rule is not applicable for the naturalization petitions.
USCIS Director, Alejandro Mayorkas thanked the public for their participation in submitting comments on the proposed rule. He further assured that USCIS will continue working on its mission of enhancing the services that they provide.
The following three new fees are included in the final fee rule:
- Civil surgeon designation fee
- Regional center designation fee, which falls under the Immigrant Investor (EB-5) Pilot Program
- A fee to incur the costs spent by USCIS in the processing of immigration petitions
In addition to the inclusion of three new fees, the final rule has also reduced and eliminated the processing fees for certain service members and a few veteran members of the U.S. armed forces. Further, the availability of fee waivers for a few USCIS forms has also been expanded.
In order to determine the funding levels required to process the immigration petitions, to manage the nations immigration laws, and to establish a convenient infrastructure for all these activities, the law obliges USCIS to carry out biennial fee reviews.
The fee revenue was lower than it was estimated in fiscal years 2008 and 2009 and continues to remain so in fiscal year 2010 as well. Even though USCIS budgeted expenditures have been reduced by $160 million, there exists a gap between the costs and expected revenue. Thus, the operations cost is required to be recovered by the adjusted fee rule, in addition to meeting the application processing goals determined in the 2007 fee rule.
For further assistance in the preparation and submission of immigration applications, petitioners applying for immigration benefits can log on to
www.usa-green-card.com.
