News Update - May 30, 2007

By Alan Lee, Esq.

Immigration Fees to Rise Effective July 30, 2007

The U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published its final rule amending 8 CFR Part 103 and raising immigration fees (see 72 Federal Register 28951). The fees are to fund the cost of processing applications and petitions. The new fees are in effect for applications and petitions filed, mailed or postmarked on or after July 30, 2007. The below fees are quoted without the $80 biometrics fee which is added on to most applications. They include an increase to $930 for I-485 applications to adjust status to permanent resident ($600 for children under fourteen filing concurrently with a parent). I-130 relative petitions will increase from $190 to $355. Naturalization fees rise from $330 to $595. USCIS anticipates increased workload in preparing for immigration reform and many applicants. USCIS also states it is seeking to reduce processing times. The USCIS is also seeking to improve business immigration services. Fees for I-40 petitions will rise from $195 to $475. Applications for alien entrepreneurs will rise from $480 to $1,435 and the fee to remove the conditional basis of residence for a business immigrant will go from $475 to $2,850, making a complete process for an entrepreneur cost at least $4,255.


The author is a 26+ year practitioner of immigration law based in New York City. He was awarded the Sidney A. Levine prize for best legal writing at the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in 1977 and has written extensively on immigration over the past years for the ethnic newspapers, World Journal, Sing Tao, Pakistan Calling, Muhasha and OCS. He has testified as an expert on immigration in civil court proceedings and was recognized by the Taiwan government in 1985 for his work protecting human rights. His article, "The Bush Temporary Worker Proposal and Comparative Pending Legislation: an Analysis" was Interpreter Releases' cover display article at the American Immigration Lawyers Association annual conference in 2004, and his victory in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in a case of first impression nationwide, Firstland International v. INS, successfully challenged INS' policy of over 40 years of revoking approved immigrant visa petitions under a nebulous standard of proof. Its value as precedent, however, was short-lived as it was specifically targeted by the Administration in the Intelligence Reform Act of 2004.

This article © 2007 Alan Lee, Esq.

 

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