USCIS filing fee changes go into effect October 2

The following information has been provided by Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc.

USCIS has officially published the final rule for its revised fee schedule as of Monday, Aug. 3, 2020. The final rule is scheduled to go into effect 60 days after publication, Oct. 2, 2020.

Similar to the proposed fee schedule that was published late last year, the final rule raises fees in many categories, and changes rules that affect fees, fee waivers and fee exemptions. The following are the changes to fees for forms that our network uses most frequently:

*Forms filed online have fees reduced by $10.

The final rule will drastically reduce the number of applicants eligible for fee waivers. The provision that will impact the most applicants disallows fee waivers for any applicant who is subject to an affidavit of support requirement or is already a sponsored immigrant, or is subject to public charge inadmissibility. Any category of applicants that are required to have access to fee waivers by statute, including VAWA, victims of trafficking, and some Special Immigrants, would still qualify for a fee waiver.

We anticipate litigation will be filed regarding this rule, so the effective date may be delayed by these challenges. We are planning a webinar in the coming weeks to help you prepare your practice for these changes; we will send another update when registration opens, and include any additional resources for practitioners and outreach to the community.

Please see CLINIC’s statement here.