Has there been any hint as to whether Biden admin will reverse the Trump hikes in fees?

[zeveljones 3]

Hi. I'm a US citizen. My wife is a permanent resident. She was planning to get her citizenship in 2020, but then Trump nearly doubled the fees involved.

Given that the Biden administration is reversing much of the Trump immigration policies, has anyone heard anything about possibly reducing the fees?

I searched online and couldn't find any mention of it.

I'm just curious if it makes sense to wait a bit and see if they end up reducing those.

[Fr8dog 337]

I have never heard of government fees going down, regardless of whom is in power at the time. More importantly, do you want to join the ever growing line now or in about 6 months?

[Crazy Cat 44,172]

7 minutes ago, zeveljones said:

Hi. I'm a US citizen. My wife is a permanent resident. She was planning to get her citizenship in 2020, but then Trump nearly doubled the fees involved.

Given that the Biden administration is reversing much of the Trump immigration policies, has anyone heard anything about possibly reducing the fees?

I searched online and couldn't find any mention of it.

I'm just curious if it makes sense to wait a bit and see if they end up reducing those.

The fees were not increased.....

[millefleur 5,052]

Did anyone see this?

USCIS Withdraws Proposed Filing Fee Increases

Thursday, January 7, 2021

The USCIS filing fee increases that were proposed last summer will not be implemented.

In August 2020, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a new filing fee rule in the Federal Register that raised USCIS filing fees by a weighted average of 20%. Some popular business-related petitions were slated for larger increases, from 51% for TN and E petitions to 75% for L petitions to 85% for temporary, seasonal agricultural workers. DHS wanted to increase fees to reduce its projected $1 billion deficit. Critics complained that these increases would negatively affect immigrants, businesses, and the economy. The new fees were to go into effect on October 2, 2020. At the last moment, a federal judge in California enjoined the rule. Despite the government’s request, the judge refused to enter a stay of the injunction pending a decision on an appeal. On December 28, 2020, the day the government was to file its opening brief in the federal appellate court, the Department of Justice (DOJ) voluntarily moved to dismiss the appeal the Administration previously decided to pursue.

 

More here: https://www.natlawreview.com/article/uscis-withdraws-proposed-filing-fee-increases

 

[zeveljones 3]

Oh!

Okay great! 

I totally wasn't aware that the fee increase wasn't implemented after all 😀

[millefleur 5,052]

5 minutes ago, zeveljones said:

Oh!

Okay great! 

I totally wasn't aware that the fee increase wasn't implemented after all 😀

To be honest, me neither, lol. Glad you brought it up or I would have never know!

Edited January 26, 2021 by millefleur

[pablo2752 106]

The fee increase has been into a halt, and I doubt that biden administration would let it increase...

Honestly, given how (borderline unethically imo) dependent USCIS is on filing fees - 98% of its budget is from filing fees -  the fee increase may be necessary as an adjustment for the dollar inflation, its just that the increase was so uneven across the board that it caused a lot of outrage.

[SusieQQQ 11,588]

I was aware it had not been implemented but not that the government had stopped arguing the case and just allowed it to collapse.  There were a lot of articles about how underfunded uscis had become. I do hope that this is not a curse in disguise that keeps fees low but permanently increases processing and wait times.