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Immigration Fees for
the Needy
You
may be eligible for a fee waiver.
10/09/98
INS Fee Waiver Guidance
As part of the August
14, 1998, regulation increasing filing fees for most immigration
benefits, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) pledged to
review its current fee waiver policy to ensure that it would be fair
to the applicant, promote consistency, and be reasonable for INS to
administer. Because federal guidelines require the processing of
immigration benefits to be self-supported by filing fees, the policy
also must ensure that adequate fee revenue is collected by INS to fund
application processing.
Generally, the INS has
discretion to waive any application or petition filing fees if the
applicant establishes that he/she is unable to pay the fee. The
guidance maintains INS' discretionary authority to grant fee waivers,
but provides direction on what constitutes "inability to
pay."
Implementation of Fee
Waiver Guidance
In conjunction with the
first fee increases on October 13, 1998, INS issued fee waiver
guidance to field offices, which will be effective until a final
regulation amending the current fee waiver regulation is published in
the Federal Register.
Before proceeding with a
regulation, INS will conduct a field assessment to obtain data that
will help build on the existing guidance and formulate a fee waiver
regulation. INS expects to have an interim rule by summer 1999, and a
final rule by the end of that year.
What is the Fee Waiver
Field Guidance?
INS Service Officers
currently have broad discretion in granting fee waivers. The field
guidance, outlined below, will provide Service Officers with
guidelines which should be considered when determining if a fee waiver
is justified. However, the field guidance is not exhaustive. INS
Service Officers will evaluate all factors, circumstances, and
evidence supplied by the applicant before making a determination.
In all fee waiver
requests applicants are required to demonstrate an "inability to
pay." In determining "inability to pay," INS Service
Officers may consider the following situations and criteria regarding
the applicant: ·
Within the last 180
days, he/she qualified for or received a "federal means tested
public benefit," such as Food Stamps, Medicaid, Supplemental
Security Income (SSI), and Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF),
or ·
His/her household income
on which taxes were paid for the most recent tax year is at or below
the poverty level contained in the most recent poverty guidelines
revised annually by the Secretary of Health and Human Services. ·
He/she is elderly (age
65 or older at the time the fee waiver request is submitted.) ·
He/she is disabled.
Applicant should submit verification of disability (see below, How To
Apply for a Fee Waiver.) ·
The age and number of
dependents who are seeking derivative status or benefits concurrently
with the principal applicant. ·
Humanitarian and
compassionate situations, such as: the applicant is temporarily
destitute; the applicant does not own, possess, or control assets
sufficient to pay the fee without a showing of substantial hardship;
or an applicant is on a fixed income and confined to a nursing home.
·
Any other evidence or
factors that the INS Service Officer believes establishes an
applicant's "inability to pay" the required filing fees.
Applicants should be
aware that certain immigration benefits have income requirements or
require evidence that the applicant or beneficiary is not likely to
become a public charge (for example: nonimmigrant visa petitions,
family-based visa petitions, classifying an orphan as an immediate
relative, employment-based visa petitions, employment authorizations,
travel documents, and advance parole.)
Documentation
Documentation, such as
the suggested examples listed below, may be submitted to provide proof
of the "inability to pay:" ·
Evidence that an
applicant has, within the last 180 days, qualified for or received a
"federal means tested public benefit;" ·
In case of disability,
documentation showing that the disability has been previously
determined by the Social Security Administration, Health and Human
Services, Veteran's Administration, the Department of Defense or other
appropriate federal agencies; ·
Employment records, pay
stubs, W2 forms, letter(s) from employer(s), and income tax returns
(proof of filing of a tax return) for the applicant. These documents
may also be submitted for his/her dependents in the United States; ·
Rent receipts, utility
bills (such as gas, electricity, telephone, water), food, medical
expenses, child care, and receipts for other essential expenditures;
·
Documentation to show
all assets owned, possessed, or controlled by the applicant or by
his/her dependents; ·
Evidence of applicant's
living arrangements in the United States (living with relative, living
in his/her own house apartment, etc.), and evidence of whether his/her
spouse, children, or other dependents are living in his/her household
in the United States; ·
Evidence of essential,
unexpected expenditures made by the applicant or his/her dependents
living in the United States.
How To Apply for a Fee
Waiver ·
To apply for a fee
waiver, an applicant must submit an affidavit-or unsworn declaration
that is signed and dated and includes the statement: "I declare
under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and
correct"-requesting a fee waiver and stating the reasons why
he/she is unable to pay the filing fee. ·
The affidavit and
supporting documentation (see above, Documentation) must be submitted
along with the benefit application or petition. ·
To facilitate the
processing of fee waiver requests, applicants should write in large
print "Fee Waiver Request" on the outside of the mailing
envelope containing their application or petition and fee waiver
request, as well as at the top of their affidavit and each page of
their supporting information.
If a fee waiver request
is denied, the entire application package will be returned to the
applicant, who must then begin the application process again by
re-filing for the benefit with the appropriate fee.
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