$10,000 Required For Earned Legalization and Adjustment Under
the Secure Borders, Employment Opportunity and Immigration Reform
Act
By Alan Lee, Esq.†‡
One of the especially troubling aspects of S. 1348 (Secure Borders,
Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Reform Act of 2007) is still
the incredible amount of monies that applicants will have to pay
for their "Z" visas and their subsequent adjustments of
status to permanent residence. In contrast to the much reviled White
House proposal of March 28, 2007, the current bill being debated
reduces the amounts significantly, but nowhere near the range that
the Administration would have the public believe in its recent myth
buster releases of Z visa holders paying $1,000 fine to obtain the
Z visa and $4,000 fine to adjust status to permanent residence.
As far as we can see, there are seven categories of payment as
listed below:
1. Processing fee for each Z visa applicant
2. Z-1 penalty fee
3. Z-1 state impact assistance fee
4. Z-2 /Z-3 penalty fee for each dependent
5. Extension fee for each Z visa holder
6. Z-1 penalty fee to adjust status to permanent residence
7. Filing fees to Department of State and to Department of Homeland
Security to adjust status to permanent residence
Following the seven points in looking over the White House proposal
of March 28, 2007, each Z visa holder's processing fee was $1,500;
the penalty fee of $2,000 would have been assessed to each Z visa
holder; a portion of the $2000 fine for initial application and
extensions would be shared with localities as a state impact assistance
fee; the dependent Z penalty would have been $2,000 (see above);
extensions for each Z visa holder would have cost $2,000 fine and
$1,500 processing fee every three years; and each Z visa holder
would have paid a $10,000 fine to adjust to permanent residence.
Filing fees to adjust status were not mentioned although there is
no reason to believe that such would not have been assessed. Just
looking over these figures, we calculated that a family of four
even without considering the regular application fees for adjustment
of status would have spent at least $82,000 in government fees alone
(assuming that only two extensions were needed). These figures would
not include the costs of having to leave the United States and adjusting
status in the applicants' home countries.
The current legislation reduces the amount from the astronomical
to the highly expensive in that the Z application processing fee
(for each family member) will be approximately $1,500; the Z-1 penalty
$1,000; the Z-1 state impact assistance fee $500; Z-2 /Z-3 penalty
fee for each dependent $500; each Z holder's extension processing
fee approximately $1,500; and the penalty fee of $4,000 assessed
for the Z-1 to adjust status to permanent residence. No mention
is made of the amount of filing fees to be paid to the Department
of State and Department of Homeland Security although there is provision
for such. In our calculations taking into account that each Z visa
period will now cover four years and two extensions likely to be
needed since most estimates quote 8-13 years as a period of time
before Z visa holders will begin to obtain permanent residence,
a single Z visa holder will spend at least $10,000 in government
fees alone, and a family of four at least $25,000. These figures
do not take into account the costs of having to leave the United
States in adjusting status in the applicants' home countries, filing
fees for adjustment of status to be paid to the Department of State
and Department of Homeland Security or any other expenses which
may have been hidden or missed by us in our calculations.
In reading the newspapers this past week, we believe that potential
applicants should know the real cost of this earned legalization,
especially as many have the impression that they will have to come
up with only $5,000 to obtain their green cards, and even then have
expressed anguish at the prospect of having to take extraordinary
measures to raise that amount of money. The White House has been
disingenuous thus far in discussing the true fees and penalties
that must be raised by this group of individuals and they should
have the opportunity to have their supporters talk to members of
Congress to request that the amounts be further reduced.
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