USCIS Fee Hike?

The Associated Press just reported today that USCIS is considering raising its fees for immigration-related benefits due to a shortfall in revenue.  Head of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Alejandro Mayorkas was quoted in Los Angeles today saying that a fee hike could happen in the next two years.  Is Mr. Mayorkas kidding?  Instituting another fee hike would be incredible chutzpah on the agency’s part.  It was only in 2007 when the last fee hike went into effect, raising the filing fees on some petitions nearly three-fold.  We were told then that the increased revenue would improve “customer service” and speed up processing times.  Not only did USCIS not deliver on those promises, but in the last two years, service has become even more abysmal, and the adjudicators appear to be as poorly trained as ever.  I have an idea for Mr. Mayorkas: if you’re looking to cut operating costs, consider banning your adjudicators from issuing burdensome and nonsensical Requests for Evidence (RFE’s).  More often than not, these RFE’s ask for evidence already submitted in the initial petition; or worse, they invent criteria for adjudication that have absolutely nothing to do with the regulations.  These RFE’s are issued with alarming regularity.  I’m willing to bet that putting an end to this practice would save the agency millions of dollars.

Tags: Alejandro Mayorkas, fee hike, immigration, request for evidence, RFE, USCIS
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