Fee Waiver Applications Now History

Although both major political parties have consistently increased fees for U.S. immigration-related services over the last few decades, past fee increases never put immigration benefits out of the reach of foreign nationals who were otherwise entitled to apply for such benefits. For example, regardless of the fee to apply for U.S. citizenship, poorer foreign nationals had the option to request waivers of those application fees if they would suffer severe economic hardship by paying them. In such instances, all that was required was for an applicant to provide the latest tax return (or tax transcript), W-2, and/or bank account statement. "It was also not uncommon for fee waiver applicants to provide proof of some recurring financial obligation." Once such documents were submitted, ... Voila! USCIS waived the application fee!

In many cases, so long as fee waiver applicants lived in a major metropolitan area in the northeast U.S. and were in a household with earnings of less than $40,000 per year (Gross), they could expect to be approved for a fee waiver. However, as of October 2019, the administration has chosen to make it all but impossible for foreign nationals to receive fee waivers when applying for U.S. immigration benefits. Under the current administration's policies, not even the "poorest of the poor" would now be entitled to receive a waiver of the fees associated with an immigration application.

Meanwhile, the administration is implementing rules and/or policies that would substantially raise immigration fees. (See "Exorbitant Hikes in Immigration Fees Will Make Applications Unaffordable for Many").

For all of the rhetoric that this administration is not anti-immigrant, but only against illegal immigration, the policies being rolled out are a clear indication of the underlying malice that dissidents knew existed all along. Honestly, the claim to be solely against "illegal" immigration was always disingenuous inasmuch as lawmakers decide what is legal and what is not. That rhetoric was designed to build up a movement against illegal immigration, after which the administration would try to decrease legal immigration pathways, thereby reducing all immigration altogether.

The administration has successfully reduced all immigration and all of the concomitant benefits to our country that come with it, while pretending all along that they were only against illegal immigrants. The great swindle of the electorate has now been laid bare for everyone to see, a swindle to which immigration lawyers had been alerting the public from the first day of this new administration.

We assist countless foreign nationals and we will be happy to personally assist you with your application as well. Drop us a line at Lawyer@MurrayLawNJ.com or call us at (888)354-6257. For reasons on why you should consult an immigration attorney whenever you have an immigration issue, see our page titled: Reasons Why it is Vital to Use an Immigration Lawyer.