December 20, 2012

United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced that a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) “domestic processing fee” of $165.00 will begin to be collected from individuals who have received their immigrant visa package from the Department of State (DOS) effective February 1, 2013. This fee, which was included in a Final Rule published in the Federal Register on September 24, 2010, technically became effective on November 23, 2010, however, USCIS has only recently completed its procedures for collecting the fee, thus delaying its implementation to this coming February.

According to USCIS, the purpose of the fee is to assist the agency with recovering costs associated with work it does after immigrants enter the U.S., which includes filing and maintaining the immigrant visa packages as well as mailing out certain documents, including the Permanent Resident or “green cards.” Beginning in February, individuals who receive their immigrant visa packages will also receive from the DOS a USCIS handout that contains payment instructions for the new fee. Individuals will make the payments online through pay.gov and the funds must be drawn on a U.S. bank. All immigrants entering the U.S. on or after February 1, 2013, will have to pay this new fee, with the exception of parents adopting international orphans pursuant to the Orphan or Hague Process.

USCIS states that individuals should make the payment prior to entering the U.S. It has further stated that nonpayment of the fee will not directly result in a denial of admission or loss of immigrant visa status, however, the Permanent Resident Card (Form I-551) will not be issued until the payment is made, potentially making it difficult for individuals to prove valid status in the U.S. as well as authorization to accept employment.

To read the full USCIS notice, click here

To read the relevant Federal Register notice, click here