Feds proposing $75 legal residency fee hike

[lrr1998 0]

Copyright 2010 Associated Press

June 9, 2010, 9:00AM

WASHINGTON — Federal immigration officials are proposing to increase the fees to apply for legal U.S. residency to nearly $1,100, but would leave existing citizenship application fees intact.

The Citizenship and Immigration Services has scheduled a news conference later today to announce the fee increases. It now costs a total of $1,010 to apply for legal residency and get required fingerprinting, and that cost would rise to $1,085.

The agency is required by law to review its fees regularly and decide whether they are covering the cost of doing business.

The CIS had a major fee hike in the summer of 2007, helping to trigger a flood of citizenship applications that were filed in advance of the increases.

[jimnlena 8]

[ATLR 2]

Ok, that sucks.

[Vivi6 12]

The agency is required by law to review its fees regularly and decide whether they are covering the cost of doing business.

I think that says a lot...

[VanessaTony 3,567]

Ugh. That sucks. Luckily I've already file but geez... how rich do they want us to be before we're "worthy" of immigrating.

** moved from "Adjustment of Status (Green Card) from Family Based Visas" to Immigration News and Discussion as this is not an AOS question as is more immigration news**

[John and Camie 39]

Ugh. That sucks. Luckily I've already file but geez... how rich do they want us to be before we're "worthy" of immigrating.

For reals.

[Rebecca Jo 1,962]

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=269d3d5d65919210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=5b33aca797e63110VgnVCM1000004718190aRCRD

[elmcitymaven 9,711]

Sorry to be a pill, but none of the fees that VJers are most likely to incur are going to rise by very much. In most cases, the dollar amounts are in the tens. USCIS is entirely self-funded, and if it costs more to received a service that is a privilege in the first place, then we just deal with it. In many cases, the amounts charged have been artificially low for many years.

Let the brickbats fly.

[Obama 2012 1,714]

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=269d3d5d65919210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=5b33aca797e63110VgnVCM1000004718190aRCRD

Wow. Talk about getting double screwed if you applied here recently.

Not only did we pay $455 when they are lowering the I-129f application fee back down to $340.

Now they've raised the Visa fee to $350 from $130.

AND they are raising the I-485 fee by an extra $50.

That's just a load of ####### if you ask me and utterly BS to those who are caught in limbo during this time.

[milimelo 4,194]

http://www.federalregister.gov/OFRUpload/OFRData/2010-13991_PI.pdf

Interesting info in there. Apparently, they'll make civil surgeons have to pay $651 for the designation (currently they pay $0). If they could somehow limit how much they charge the people for the exam and transcribing of the vaccines, that would be very nice.

Also, there is a proposed new fee for visa issuance and activities related with USCIS when you activate visa -- POE (they have to get the envelopes from POE, update systems, issue green card...) to $165 - currently it is $0.

Looks like bio fee may be going up from $80 to $85 and they kept mentioning Naturalization fee (total) at $680 when I could swear I paid $675 -- could be a typo in the file though.

I-130 fee proposed fee either $420 or $410 from current $355.

Wow. Talk about getting double screwed if you applied here recently.

Not only did we pay $455 when they are lowering the I-129f application fee back down to $340.

Now they've raised the Visa fee to $350 from $130.

AND they are raising the I-485 fee by an extra $50.

That's just a load of ####### if you ask me and utterly BS to those who are caught in limbo during this time.

Visa fee is determined by DOS not USCIS.

[Old Dominion 26]

the fee change makes sense, but I wonder if they take into account the USCIS payroll? I doubt it.

[milimelo 4,194]

the fee change makes sense, but I wonder if they take into account the USCIS payroll? I doubt it.

If by payroll you mean USCIS staff, yes, that's covered - part of the total cost - in the link to federal register I posted everything is broken down. 90% of USCIS operating costs comes from the fees.

[Ready2Kl 1]

If by payroll you mean USCIS staff, yes, that's covered - part of the total cost - in the link to federal register I posted everything is broken down. 90% of USCIS operating costs comes from the fees.

TOTALLY SUPPORT the HIKE... Compare the timelines for processing various cases like IR1/CR1, naturalization , I-485 etc from 2006-2007 to now and you will see that USCIS has become a lot efficient and are processing cases a lot faster. To me the hike is very marginal when compared to the efficiency they got with the hike... $75 is nothing when compared to the stress people go through because their cases are delayed...So if this hike helps in increasing their efficiency, i am all for it...

[jwk2003 3]

Copyright 2010 Associated Press

June 9, 2010, 9:00AM

WASHINGTON — Federal immigration officials are proposing to increase the fees to apply for legal U.S. residency to nearly $1,100, but would leave existing citizenship application fees intact.

The Citizenship and Immigration Services has scheduled a news conference later today to announce the fee increases. It now costs a total of $1,010 to apply for legal residency and get required fingerprinting, and that cost would rise to $1,085.

The agency is required by law to review its fees regularly and decide whether they are covering the cost of doing business.

The CIS had a major fee hike in the summer of 2007, helping to trigger a flood of citizenship applications that were filed in advance of the increases.

When has there ever been a decrease in fees? I wonder where the stopping limit would be? maybe $2k $3k even????...... legal immigration??

[wendy&tamer 10]

They try to keep the fees down as long as they can, same as with US passports which may soon increase as well. Due to technology and increased securities things must go up sooner or later. I dont think the fees will change our decision to still pay to have our loved ones with us. Having my husband with me and getting to look at him every morning............priceless.