Applying for a natural passport or work visa only cost more. The new charges, including some which are considerably higher, come into effect now, April 1.
No, this is n’t an April Fool’s joke.
In the last seven years, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has n’t increased many of its costs. Unlike other agencies, the overwhelming majority, or 96 %, of its funding comes from filing fees and 4 % comes from congressional appropriations.
The number of immigration files fell during the Covid- 19 crisis and thus did profits, at one place as much as 40 percent, according to USCIS. During the pandemic, the organization froze hiring practices while another posts remained vacant as workers departed. However, the caseload gradually increased to levels prior to the epidemic, creating a significant backlog.
According to USCIS,” The payment schedule for 2016 no longer covers operating expenses to proper decide USCIS immigration and naturalization benefits.” To better prevent the formation of potential queues, we need higher costs to cover the cost of conducting business.
Companies who employ international staff and immigration lawyers who work for these companies have closely followed the price increases, which the federal government announced it was planning to implement over a year ago.
” We’re never talking about one or 2 % increases”, said Stephanie Pimentel, companion and carbon- mind of the Dallas department of the international immigration law firm. You get increases of two and a third of a percentage when you combine the base line increases with the additional new fee that is being abused on each new employment-based petition.
Among the changes, the fee for an H- 1B visa petition increased from$ 460 to$ 780 and the registration fee for an H- 1B shot up from$ 10 to$ 215.
One of the biggest changes is the new$ 600 Asylum Program Fee that businesses must pay when submitting an employment-base petition.
I do n’t know if I would agree with all businesses, but Emily Neumann, an immigration attorney and managing partner at Reddy &, Neumann, PC in Houston, said,” This is a new tactic of USCIS is to start having U.S. businesses cover the cost of the asylum program because they have the ability to pay it.”
Neumann co-hosts a weekly video she shares on social media and writes an immigration-related blog under the name Immigration Girl.
The law firm BAL conducted a survey of employers about the feds ‘ new fees and found that more than half, or 57 % of respondents, said the increase would n’t affect their ability to complete globally.
Pimentel said this is most likely because businesses are aware that foreign employers who employ foreign workers are required to pay the same fees.
Still, 43 % of businesses believe there will be a significant impact on their ability to compete globally, according to Potentel, adding that 40 % of businesses plan to file the same number of petitions while 40 % claim to offer fewer benefits or file fewer of them.
Some of those benefits include the employer paying for dependents of their employees to have their legal status extended. Others might pay the premium processing fee so their employee’s petition will be expedited. However, some employers may no longer cover those under the new fee structure, leaving it up to their employee( s ).
Those who are adjusting their status or applying for a green card are also affected. The cost of an application is now$ 1, 440, up from$ 1, 225. Additionally, USCIS has added two additional fees for those applications: one for requests for interim work authorization and the other for requests for interim work permits.
The entire new filing fee schedule can be found here.
Got a tip? Email Stella M. Chávez at , schavez@kera.org. You can follow Stella on Twitter , @stellamchavez.
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