According to Washington Post: “
The Bush administration will announce an increase today in immigration application fees of more than 80 percent, federal officials said yesterday.” The application fee rises from $330 to $595 and the fingerprint check will go from $70 to $80.
WP states that increase will raise additional $1 billion for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). It’s been said that it also would reduce delays in application processing.
Here is another interesting quote from the article:
“ Union, civil rights and immigrant advocacy groups called the changes discriminatory, warning that they will keep lower-income and less-educated people from becoming citizens.
What they’re saying is, people trying to become Americans are not a priority,” said Cecilia Muñoz, vice president of the National Council of La Raza, the Hispanic civil rights group.
Critics also said the changes would create an incentive for the agency to drag out processing, thereby extracting more fees, or to expedite cases for people who can afford premium services.
USCIS faces budget problems because of an increase in applications and because Congress funds it not with tax money but with user fees, which trail operational demands.
The money will allow USCIS to recoup its business costs, “provide future services, enhance national security and to modernize . . . a totally outdated business infrastructure,” said an agency official who spoke on the condition of anonymity so as not to upstage the announcement.
Officials said the increases will not address costs that would result from an overhaul of the nation’s immigration laws, which the White House has proposed.
Fee increases will take effect no sooner than 120 days after they are published in the Federal Register tomorrow, including a 60-day public comment period. “
Source:
Washington Post
