Immigrant Groups Blast Citizenship Fee Increase

WASHINGTON — Immigrant groups and Hispanic organizations blasted the Bush administration Wednesday for proposing to nearly double the fee to apply for U.S. citizenship, as part of an across the board price increase for immigration services.

"We are alarmed by the skyrocketing fees which will prevent deserving immigrants from taking the necessary steps to become citizens," said Christina DeConcini, policy director of the National Immigration Forum, an immigrant advocacy group in Washington. "America should be embracing those who want to become citizens, not erecting barriers to achieving this worthy goal."

The fee — which would increase from $330 to $595 — would go into effect in June, after a period of public comment, said Emilio T. Gonzalez, director of Citizenship and Immigration Services.

The administration announced that a myriad of immigration service fees would increase an average of 86 percent. The fee to apply to become a permanent legal resident would increase from $325 to $905, but the cost would be offset somewhat by the elimination of fees that applicants have to pay while waiting for their green cards, administration officials said. In addition, the fee for fingerprinting applicants for a security check would increase from $70 to $80. In addition, the fee for victims of human trafficking who are applying for legal status would be eliminated. It is currently $270.

The fee increases will generate $1 billion a year for the agency to expedite services, build new facilities, upgrade computer systems, hire more people, increase training, and perform security background checks, Gonzalez said.

"We need these fees to strengthen and move this agency forward," he said. "We can become the immigration service for the 21st Century."

Gonzalez also said that the Citizenship and Immigration Services, part of the Department of Homeland Security, is the only federal agency funded almost entirely by fees and that the increased revenue would result in a 20 percent reduction in several application processing times by September 2009. He said that some fee waivers would be available for poor immigrants.

Michele Waslin, director of immigration policy research at the National Council of La Raza, a Hispanics civil rights group, said that previous fee increases have not resulted in better service.

"People should not be forced to pay a significant amount of money for poor customer service, lost files and long backlogs," she said. "We'll be watching (the Citizenship and Immigration Services) to ensure that they move forward with the customer service improvements they have promised."

Donald Kerwin, executive director of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc., said that the fee increases will stop many eligible immigrants from applying for legal residency and citizenship.

"This is another example of how our immigration system, instead of helping to integrate immigrants, tends to marginalize them," he said.

In addition, Kerwin said that the Bush administration should ask Congress for funding for the Citizenship and Immigration Services so it would not rely entirely on fees.

"The question is: 'Does the administration think the function is sufficiently important that it deserves some level of support,'" he said.

Mirk Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a group that advocates a reduction in immigration, said that the new fees will dissuade a number of people of modest means from becoming legal residents and citizens, but that the Citizenship and Immigration Services should not be blamed.

Making the agency depend solely on fee charges "is a crazy way to run an organization" and Congress should appropriate money to change that, he said.

Gonzalez said he has spoken to immigrants across the country who understand why the agency must increase its fees and that they will see tangible results.

"I need these fees to give us the agency that these immigrant communities expect. They don't want long waits. They don't want to go into dingy buildings. They don't want to meet with rude employees," he said. "These resources will make the difference."

One of the fees that would increase the most is for petitions by foreign entrepreneurs who want to move to the United States to create businesses. That fee would surge from $475 to $2,850. In addition, the fee for people still applying for legal status under a 1986 immigration amnesty law, including some who have been waiting for years for their court cases to proceed, would jump from $180 to $1,370. Only 331 of the latter applications were filed last year, administration officials said.

On the Web:

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services: www.uscis.gov

Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc.: www.cliniclegal.org