This rule proposes to adjust the immigration and naturalization benefit application and petition fees of the Immigration Examinations Fee Account. Fees collected from persons requesting these benefits are deposited into the Immigration Examinations Fee Account. These fees are used to fund the full cost of processing immigration and naturalization benefit applications and petitions, biometric services, and associated support services. In addition, these fees must recover the cost of providing similar services to asylum and refugee applicants and certain other immigrants at no charge. The fees that fund the Immigration Examinations Fee Account were last updated on October 26, 2005, solely to reflect an increase in costs due to inflation. The last comprehensive fee review was conducted in fiscal year 1998. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services conducted a new comprehensive review of the resources and activities funded by the Immigration Examinations Fee Account and determined that the current fees do not reflect current processes or recover the full costs of services that should be provided. Therefore, this rule proposes to increase the immigration and naturalization benefit application and petition fee schedule by a weighted average of $174, from an average fee of $264 to $438. These increases will ensure sufficient funding to meet immediate national security, customer service, and standard processing time goals, and to sustain and improve service delivery. Furthermore, the rule proposes to merge the fees for certain applications so applicants will pay a single fee rather than paying several fees for related services. The rule would permit U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to devote certain revenues to broader investments in a new technology and business process platform to improve substantially its capabilities and service levels. This rule also proposes generally to allocate costs for surcharges and routine processing activities evenly across all form types for which fees are charged, and to vary fees in proportion to the amount of adjudication decision-making and interview time typically required. This rule proposes to eliminate fees for interim benefits, duplicate filings, and premium processing by consolidating and reallocating costs among the various fees. The rule also proposes to exempt applicants for T nonimmigrant status, or for status under the Violence Against Women Act from paying certain fees, and modify substantially the availability of individual fee waivers by limiting them to certain specified form types.
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