Earlier this year, it was announced that USCIS immigration application fees would increase on April 1, 2024. Though it was unsure whether this was actually going to be implemented or whether it was going to be challenged by a court like it was a couple of years ago, now we know that the new immigration application fees are here to stay. So, what happens now, should we expect any new behavior from USCIS or just expect more of the same? Here are our thoughts…

USCIS had been working with the same application fees for more than five years now. Since then, events such as the global pandemic, global inflation and others major events had occurred. Though the fee increase certainly puts some individuals at a disadvantage, USCIS was long overdue for a fee increase. USCIS claimed that they were not earning enough financial support to adequately process immigration applications, conduct immigration interviews, and to generally process all types of immigration applications. We can affirm this as simple applications such as the I-751 Removal of Conditions and the I-90 Renewal or Replacement of Green Card applications could take up as long as two years to be approved.

Now that USCIS will be receiving more financial support with the fee increases, we expect USCIS to have more capital to hire more personnel and invest in new technology to quickly process immigration applications, conduct immigration interviews, and adequately respond to all inquiries. Specifically, in a published memo, with the new fee increase, USCIS promises to process applications a lot more quickly, and suggests that even Adjustment of Status applications will be approved in as little as six months. We hope and expect this to be the case because USCIS current processing times are not maintainable in the long-term, and in order to avoid backlogs and other types of future problems, USCIS must take a different approach.

Do you want to learn more about the new application fees or have any type of immigration question, call us today at (915) 314-2363 to schedule a consultation today!