This rule proposes to adjust the fees schedule of the Immigration Examinations Fee Account for certain immigration adjudication and naturalization applications and petitions. Fees collected from persons filing these applications and petitions are deposited into the Immigration Examinations Fee Account and used to fund the cost of processing immigration adjudication and naturalization applications and petitions and associated support services; the cost of providing similar services to asylum and refugee applicants; and the cost of similar services provided to other immigrants at no charge. The fees that fund the Immigration Examinations Fee Account were last revised on July 14, 1994; since the revision, the cost of the services supported by the Account have increased. The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) conducted a thorough review of the resources and activities funded by the Account and has determined that the current fees do not recover the costs of services. The fee increases range from $20.00 to $255.00 depending on the type of application or petition filed. Without a fee increase and based on 4.3 million fee-paying applications, the INS projects FY 1998 fee revenues of $368.4 million. The INS also estimates that it will cost $638.6 million to process 5 million applications, of which 4.3 are expected to be fee-paying. This would result in a shortfall of revenue to expenses of approximately $270.2 million. This rule is necessary to ensure that the fees that fund the Immigration Examinations Fee Account generate sufficient revenue to recover the full cost of processing immigration adjudication and naturalization applications, petitions, the cost of asylum, refugee and other immigrant services provided at no charge to the applicant.
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