New Fee for I-864 Affidavit of Support at Consulates
Posted Sep 16, 2000

On September 7, 2000 the U.S. Department of State (DOS) published an announcement that a fee would be charged for processing of the Form I-864 Affidavit of Support. This is the longer Affidavit of Support form that is used for family-based Green Card cases, and for certain employment-based cases where the company is owned by a relative of the beneficiary. There is no fee for the other Affidavit of Support, Form I-134, which is used in various types of cases other than those named above.

The new fee, which is $50, takes effect on October 1, 2000. Please note that the fee applies only to immigrant visa cases at consulates, not to adjustment of status (I-485) processing in the U.S. (The Department of State handles consular processing but does not have authority to impose a fee in the I-485 context, since INS is responsible for the adjustment process.)

Some procedural issues remain with respect to the new $50 filing fee for I-864s submitted at consulates. For now, the Department of State says that if the same I-864 is being submitted for several family members, the $50 fee is charged only once. If a primary sponsor and a joint sponsor are each submitting an I-864, there is a separate fee for each. No fee is charged for a co-sponsor filing an I-864A form. It is not yet clear at what point in the process this fee is imposed. The most logical procedure would be to require the $50 payment at the same time that the visa fee is paid. It is likely that further procedural guidance will be forthcoming from DOS on the $50 fee issue.