ACTION ALERT: Keep Citizenship Affordable; Comment Period Re-Opens on Fee Increases for Immigrants Seeking Citizenship
By Alexandra Olins, ACRS Director of Employment and Citizenship Services
Last fall, ACRS spoke out against the huge fee increases for immigration services at USCIS proposed by the Trump administration. Fees for some immigration benefits, such as the N-400 application that green card holders (also known as Lawful Permanent Residents or LPRs) use to apply to become U.S. citizens, would increase by a whopping 83 percent. The Trump administration also proposed eliminating the fee waiver low-income LPRs have long used to become citizens, regardless of their ability to pay.
In November, we urged members of ACRS’ communities to comment on the proposed rule change because it would constitute a wealth test on citizenship and hurt low-income individuals who deserve access to the American Dream, regardless of their income. The public comment period closed on December 30, 2019, and almost 30,000 comments were submitted to the federal register, the majority of which opposed the proposed rule change. Due to the incredible work on the part of naturalization advocates, the comment period has re-opened until February 10, 2020, at 11:59 PM Eastern Time.
This is great news if you didn’t get a chance to comment before because you were too busy with the holidays. You now have a chance to weigh in, comment, and let your voice be heard. And if you already commented, you now can submit additional comments. All comments are reviewed by the Department of Homeland Security(DHS), so every voice of opposition matters.
We cannot let this rule change go into effect. There can be no wealth test on the American Dream! Please take a few minutes to tell USCIS that you oppose this proposal by submitting a comment by Monday, February 10, 2020.
More details about the proposed USCIS changes:
- The current fee for the N-400 application is $640. The proposed new fee is a staggering $1,170.
- LPRs who currently receive a means-tested public benefit and are otherwise eligible to have their application fee waived would be forced to pay this increase under the proposed rule change, which seeks to eliminate the fee waiver altogether.
- In 2018, approximately 64% of ACRS’s naturalization clients utilized the fee waiver.
- Another element of the proposed changes is the transfer of $112 million per year from the increased USCIS fees to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). To accept payments from immigrants for the evaluation of their immigration applications and use those funds for enforcement against their communities is wrong.
- USCIS also proposes to add a new fee of $50 on applications for asylum. Currently, only three countries in the world charge a fee to petition for asylum.
Additional Resources:
USCIS Fee Schedule Changes – Catholic Legal Immigration Network
