The Trump administration is at it again.  In its ongoing efforts to marginalize the immigrant community, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced a significant increase in filing fees for many applicants. The USCIS fee increase, as given in the Final rule document, will take effect starting Oct. 2, 2020.

The average weighted fee increase is 20 percent.

Shockingly, in its abandonment to our history in protecting refugees, asylees and immigrants with low income, USCIS has also introduced a fee for asylum applications and an elimination of many existing fee waivers. 

On Sept. 2, 2020, USCIS issued this policy guidance. 

Here are some of the key changes:

N-400 Application for Citizenship

The N-400 naturalization application fee will increase from $640 to $1160 for online applications and $1170 for paper applications: an 83 percent increase.  

Not only will applicants pay higher N-400 filing fees, but they also will not have the option to apply for a fee reduction ($320), a whopping 266 percent increase in the filing fee, for those whose income is greater than 150 percent and less than 200 percent of the poverty level.  

USCIS has also eliminated the N-400 fee waiver for those with income greater than 200 percent of the poverty level.

This change has, in effect, created a wealth test to become an American citizen.

Justifying the increase, the USCIS says that the fee was held below cost in the past and the new fee will reflect the full cost of providing the service.

However, this fee increase does not consider how much of a barrier finances are to immigrants looking to naturalize. Financial and administrative barriers stand in the way of naturalization for 13 percent of Mexican and 19 percent other lawful immigrants, according to a 2015 survey, published by Pew Research. 

Besides the financial burden, the new fee penalizes immigrants who abide by the law and forces them to turn to predatory financing to afford the USCIS fee.

It is a fact that naturalization offers many economic and social benefits to legal immigrants. 

  • Research shows that naturalized citizens have higher employment rates and can earn up to 70 percent more than noncitizens; 
  • Full protection of the U.S. Constitution;
  • Protection from potential deportation;
  • Ability to travel overseas and live outside of the U.S. without fear of abandoning the right to the green card; 
  • Ability to vote and have an impact on elections;
  • Ability to sponsor parents, siblings and married children for permanent residency; and
  • Ability to work in more U.S. government-related jobs that require security clearances;

Trump’s anti-immigration stance has been detrimental to the cause of naturalization. Instead of facilitating applicants with alternatives to traditional procedures, such as virtual interviews in place of in-person interviews, the relevant authorities have chosen to not be proactive, resulting in huge backlogs of cases.

Discouraging naturalization not only hurts immigrants, by reducing work and social opportunities, but it hurts the nation.  President Trump is installing unnecessary barriers to naturalization—creating a “virtual” wall—separating “us” from “them.” Rather than uniting the nation under one banner, he continues to divide us. 

Creating a wealth test to become an American citizen is ….well…un-American.

I-129 Temporary Worker Visa Applications

In the proposal, USCIS has also proposed to split the I-129 Petition for a Nonimmigrant worker (application cost of $460) into multiple forms, with most forms having a higher fee. For instance, the I-129H2A—Named Beneficiaries application fee will be $850, an 85 percent increase. The change would apply to all classifications sought through the Form I-129.

I-485 Application for Adjustment of Status to Permanent Residency

The USCIS fee structure will also change for the Form I-485 applicants. An unbundling of filing fees will mean that they will have to pay extra for work authorization (Form I-765) and their travel document (Form I-131). This new structure will result in nearly doubling the fee, which will be $1130 for I-485, $550 for I-765, and $590 for I-131. 

Not Welcome Sign:  Decrease in Legal Immigration

The “not welcome” sign is flickering from the Statue of Liberty.

At a time when legal immigration is decreasing to the U.S., the White House seems determined to accelerate the decrease.

These fee increases come at a time when there has been a significant decrease in legal immigrants admitted to the U.S. According to the National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP), there was a 7.3 percent (86,894 people) drop in immigration from FY 2016 to FY 2018, and the majority of the decrease has been in the immediate relatives of U.S. citizens, including children, spouses, and parents, reported Stuart Anderson for Forbes. 

Certain countries, including Mexico and China, are over-represented in the declined applicants with a decrease of 7.3 percent for Mexico and 20 percent for China, adds Anderson. Numbers in other segments of immigration also indicate the direction taken by the Trump administration: 

The annual ceiling for refugees and asylum seekers is set by the President in consultation with Congress. The 30,000 ceiling for FY 2019 was the lowest since the creation of the resettlement program in the 80s, according to Migration Policy. There has also been a marked change in the number of people approved for asylum, with a decrease in 43 percent from FY 2016 to 31 percent in FY 2019. The ceiling is at 18,000 for FY 2020, adds the report.

Our Immigration System Is Broken 

At a time when USCIS should want to increase its revenue by encouraging more applicants to apply, the Government is doing the exact opposite.

And it needs the money, that’s for sure.

Unlike most government agencies, the USCIS relies on fees for its funds. In FY 2019, the USCIS fee carryover went into the negative for the first time since 2007, and it is expected to reach $1.5 billion this year, says Migration Policy research. The researchers add that a decreasing petition rate and greater processing times are two important factors in the turnaround: a one million drop in petitions in FY 2018 resulted in a $152 million drop in fees, and continued drop in a petition with highest fees in FY 2019 resulted in a $13 million drop. At the same time, money spent on vetting applicants and detecting benefit fraud increased significantly (an increase of $96 million for vetting and $202 million for fraud from FY2016 to FY 2020). 

Take Action Now and Apply for Immigration Benefits If You Are Eligible

First, apply for naturalization BEFORE Oct. 2, 2020, if you are eligible.  You will save a ton of money.

Second, USCIS needs to be reformed so that it can efficiently and humanely carry out its mission. The above facts and figures clearly indicate a need to change the priorities of the USCIS, so that it can not only support itself but also ensure that it facilitates the people depending on it for swift processing. Unfortunately, the new changes indicate a continuation of the policy set by the Trump administration, making naturalization difficult for lawful immigrants and further increasing the backlog of cases. 

This final rule will take effect from Oct. 2, 2020, and will apply to any application postmarked on or after this date. If you have a petition or application to submit, then consider submitting it before the date to avoid the new fees.

Remember, our country has a long history of xenophobia. In fits and starts, we eventually get it right.   

Richard Herman is a nationally renowned immigration lawyer, author and activist.  He has dedicated his life to advocating for immigrants and helping change the conversation on immigration. He is the founder of the Herman Legal Group, an immigration law firm launched in 1995 and recognized in U.S. World News & Report’s “Best Law Firms in America.” He is the co-author of the acclaimed book, Immigrant, Inc. —Why Immigrant Entrepreneurs Are Driving the New Economy (John Wiley & Sons, 2009).  Richard’s poignant commentary has been sought out by many national media outlets, including The New York Times, USA Today, BusinessWeek, Forbes, FOX News (The O’Reilly Factor), National Public Radio, Inc., National Lawyers Weekly, PC World, Computerworld, CIO, TechCrunch, Washington Times, San Francisco Chronicle and InformationWeek.