Sindell Law Offices E-Min Newsletter (Vol. 3) - English Article #13
Effective April 30, 2004, USCIS, legacy INS, will be increasing user fees an average of $55 per application. Any petitions filed on or after April 30, 2004, will be subject to the increase in fees. For example, the current fee for an H-1, L-1, O or P petition is $130.00. Starting April 30th, this will increase to $185.00. A marriage based I-130 case will increase from $130 to $185. An I-140, employment based petition from $135 to $190. An Adjustment of Status, I-485 petition, currently $255 will increase to $315 except for applicants under 14 years old, who will pay $215.00. An employment authorization document filed on form I-765 will now cost $175.00 up from $120 and advance parole or re-entry permit will now cost $165 up from $110.00. An I-539, change of status will now cost $195.00, an increase of $55. A Naturalization application will now have to pay $320.00, an increase of $60 from the current fee. Finally, the fingerprint service fee for adjustment of status and naturalization applicants will go up to $70, an increase of $20.00.
The immigration service is claiming that they need the extra revenue to improve service and processing times. However, most of the revenue they collect does not go to that purpose so we are skeptical about any real change in service due to the increase. The bottom line is that the client will pay more for the same service starting April 30, 2004
