These new fees are so unfair !!

[no name 1]

FWIW, I think USCIS should introduce payment plans. Many people don't have a spare $1,000 lying around in their bank account; it seems unfair to keep them waiting until they do.

Really? That is not much for a working adult who has a family or is thinking about one...

I would actually think that people who have families are less inclined to have $1000 laying around. Money can get eaten up by bills, food, clothing and general "life with kids" things. Children can mean you need a bigger home and therefore you have higher mortgage or rent payments too. Wages then get eaten up very quickly.

Considering that there are millions of people with very low earnings, especially in certain areas of the US, I think the expectation that they should have $1000 in the bank laying around doing nothing is wrong.

Not everyone lives in New York or LA earning big bucks.

I'm only speaking from my own Midwestern upbringing experience. I would not have kids if I couldn't/didn't have some sort of a nest egg. My parents saved/invested all their lives & that's how I was raised.

That said, I am not making big bucks in LA (yet).

Edited July 11, 2007 by devilette

[kittykatwoman 0]

FWIW, I think USCIS should introduce payment plans. Many people don't have a spare $1,000 lying around in their bank account; it seems unfair to keep them waiting until they do.

Really? That is not much for a working adult who has a family or is thinking about one...

I would actually think that people who have families are less inclined to have $1000 laying around. Money can get eaten up by bills, food, clothing and general "life with kids" things. Children can mean you need a bigger home and therefore you have higher mortgage or rent payments too. Wages then get eaten up very quickly.

Considering that there are millions of people with very low earnings, especially in certain areas of the US, I think the expectation that they should have $1000 in the bank laying around doing nothing is wrong.

Not everyone lives in New York or LA earning big bucks.

I'm only speaking from my own Midwestern upbringing experience. I would not have kids if I couldn't/didn't have some sort of a nest egg. My parents saved/invested all their lives & that's how I was raised.

That said, I am not making big bucks in LA (yet).

I often get bad looks when I say that kids are an investment i don't want to make. I'd rather prepare my retirement

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

FWIW, I think USCIS should introduce payment plans. Many people don't have a spare $1,000 lying around in their bank account; it seems unfair to keep them waiting until they do.

Really? That is not much for a working adult who has a family or is thinking about one...

I would actually think that people who have families are less inclined to have $1000 laying around. Money can get eaten up by bills, food, clothing and general "life with kids" things. Children can mean you need a bigger home and therefore you have higher mortgage or rent payments too. Wages then get eaten up very quickly.

Considering that there are millions of people with very low earnings, especially in certain areas of the US, I think the expectation that they should have $1000 in the bank laying around doing nothing is wrong.

Not everyone lives in New York or LA earning big bucks.

We are not talking about an extra $1000 - we are talking about $600 at most (if people chose not to file for EAD or AP). It is a drop in the bucket compared to the overall cost to immigrate and the grand scheme of things. If $600 is that much a financial strain, they might want to think twice. We've known about the increase in fees for months, so those affected by them will have had time to save, it's not hitting them at the last minute.

[Mags 112]

FWIW, I think USCIS should introduce payment plans. Many people don't have a spare $1,000 lying around in their bank account; it seems unfair to keep them waiting until they do.

Really? That is not much for a working adult who has a family or is thinking about one...

I would actually think that people who have families are less inclined to have $1000 laying around. Money can get eaten up by bills, food, clothing and general "life with kids" things. Children can mean you need a bigger home and therefore you have higher mortgage or rent payments too. Wages then get eaten up very quickly.

Considering that there are millions of people with very low earnings, especially in certain areas of the US, I think the expectation that they should have $1000 in the bank laying around doing nothing is wrong.

Not everyone lives in New York or LA earning big bucks.

We are not talking about an extra $1000 - we are talking about $600 at most (if people chose not to file for EAD or AP). It is a drop in the bucket compared to the overall cost to immigrate and the grand scheme of things. If $600 is that much a financial strain, they might want to think twice. We've known about the increase in fees for months, so those affected by them will have had time to save, it's not hitting them at the last minute.

I'm not arguing about the fee hike or having to pay it. I'm just saying that not everyone has a spare $1000 laying around. Rather than them having it to hand they'll have to save and cut back. That's all.

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

I'm not arguing about the fee hike or having to pay it. I'm just saying that not everyone has a spare $1000 laying around. Rather than them having it to hand they'll have to save and cut back. That's all.

Yes they will.

just like those who live in LA county with the average cost of a house at $500k (which I imagine is a little bit higher than most of the flyover states) will have to spend a little bit longer saving before they get to buy one.

[Mags 112]

I'm not arguing about the fee hike or having to pay it. I'm just saying that not everyone has a spare $1000 laying around. Rather than them having it to hand they'll have to save and cut back. That's all.

Yes they will.

just like those who live in LA county with the average cost of a house at $500k (which I imagine is a little bit higher than most of the flyover states) will have to spend a little bit longer saving before they get to buy one.

Yup.

[mawilson 2,133]

Not everyone lives in New York or LA earning big bucks.

Awww poor magsie.

[abvlit 0]

New fees or a return of the backlog.

Or convince the American public to fund USCIS with taxes.

Other than that, there aren't many alternatives.

We'll just have to wait and see if the new fees can actually help speed up the process. Or perhaps all USCIS employees will soon be driving Escalades.

However, I do know what the US Government spends 550 billion dollars a year on Military Defense. Maybe USCIS can just pinch off a very small portion that.

[Fandango 1,439]

New fees or a return of the backlog.

Or convince the American public to fund USCIS with taxes.

Other than that, there aren't many alternatives.

We'll just have to wait and see if the new fees can actually help speed up the process. Or perhaps all USCIS employees will soon be driving Escalades.

However, I do know what the US Government spends 550 billion dollars a year on Military Defense. Maybe USCIS can just pinch off a very small portion that.

Yeah, let's take from our defense budgets to fund visas for those who can't afford to pay. Cracking plan!

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

I'm just saying that not everyone has a spare $1000 laying around.

Well, that's a situation they should work on rectifying then before they go off and start sponsoring people.

[Fandango 1,439]

Here's my serious .02:

We all want to romanticize this process & focus on the longing, finally being together bit, but at the end of the day, money must be planned for. There's a lot of burden on both parties to have enough $$ to be able to navigate something of this magnitude. Yes, love is wonderful, yes love is great....but what if your foreign SO became sick when (s)he got here? What if your insurance didn't cover him/her cos you hadn't been married yet? What about paying more for groceries or any other various necessity? Or how about how your leccy bill will double cos someone's always home? Let alone a travel fund in case SO needs to fly home for an emergency.

Or God only knows what else may come up other than the fees.

If you're filing a petition barely scraping by on the fees now, I'd advise you and your fiance to have a serious talk about a way to generate more revenue to have in reserves cos this aint movin around the block.

It's great to be idealistic, but it's more safe to be realistic.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

If you're filing a petition barely scraping by on the fees now, I'd advise you and your fiance to have a serious talk about a way to generate more revenue...

Yup!

If you lack the skills to make more money, go back to school.

If you have the skills but live in an economically depressed region of the country, move.

If you have the skills and a well-paying job but spend everything you make (and then some), change your lifestyle.

[NavarreMan 10]

Well...I was under the impression the fees had been raised in part to speed the process up? I do appreciate it is a considerable "hike up" though from the previous fees .....Good luck with your journey though

Well, according to a memo published by USCIS they have committed to a 20% increase in processing times by the end of 2009. So, obviously well-worth it for those of us paying the higher fees now.

They committed themselves to taking 20% LONGER??? Is that a typo?

An increase in productivity. Like increasing the speed in which cases are processed.

I have worked in our government too long to believe that by increasing fees you will get a civil servant to move any faster or be more productive. I certainly don't buy into a 3x increase for .2x productivity. Again, just my opinion...

[Sheriff Uling 3]

OMG! I had not realized that the AOS fee went from $325.00 to $1,010.00 (and it does NOT include the biometrics fee of $70.00). WOW! Why don't they just kick all the men in the balls! That would be a lesser insult... It's the never ending cycle of squeezing the life out of the middle to upper middle class. On the other hand, this is probably the most realistic price adjustment that the govenment has made. Just think of how poorly the other agencies are functioning. Hahaha! In another 10 years they will make another outrageous increase...

Edited July 12, 2007 by Sheriff Uling

[NavarreMan 10]

Yeah, yeah...unfair, unfair. Not surprised to see so many people crying foul and blaming it on those darn "illegals."

I've worked with people without papers for quite some time and have NEVER seen the sense of entitlement that a few people here have ascribed to them.

I'm definitely facing financial hardship throughout this process, and am pleased that I have the opportunity to file for AOS before the fee hike.

But what I find REALLY unfair is not the discomfort caused by a fee hike, which is painful right now, but in a few years will be all paid off. What is UNFAIR is paying a coyote $2000 to be stuffed in the back of an 18wheeler with 60 other people and left to suffocate to death. Or screwed over and left to die in the desert. Until people dealing with immigration are faced with a life situation that makes suffocation or cooked insides sound like an acceptable risk, then I think that discussions about unfair are pretty much navel-gazing.

Acceptable risk??? Is that like dying from bad crack??? You pay someone to help you break the law. You know it is wrong, you know the risks, yet you decide to do it anyway. I have not broken the law. I am following it to the letter. I am paying the bill as I should. I don't like it but I do it because it is the law.