USCIS proposed fee raises and the period of public comment!

Nubia Estefes of AIRR, talks to us about how the latest proposed fee increase by USCIS would affect the immediate and broader immigrant communities in KC and how you can leave a comment until Dec. 30th!

On November 14th, 2019, the Trump administration published its proposed fee schedule regulation  that targets low-income and working class immigrants by effectively pricing them out of citizenship, asylum, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), work permits, and other forms of immigration status and benefits. The rule, if implemented, would:

• increase citizenship application fees by 83 percent, increasing the N-400 fee from $640 to $1,170;
• create a $50 fee for filing certain asylum applications and make asylum seekers pay $490 for a work permit;
• increase the cost of DACA renewals from $495 to $765; 
• eliminate fee waivers for citizenship, lawful permanent residency, employment authorization, and other applications; 
• transfer $112 million in applications fees from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to Immigration and Customs Enforcement for enforcement purposes, including denaturalization.

The proposed rule is not in effect yet, but, if implemented, threatens access to citizenship and other forms of relief based on wealth and class. The rule is open for public comments until December 30, 2019.

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