INS Reverts to Old Fees, Effective Immediately!
Posted Feb 28, 2003

In our January 27, 2003 NewsFlash, INS Reduces Filing Fees Effective Jan. 24, 2003, available on MurthyDotCom, we reported that INS had reduced its filing fees for most of its applications due to a provision in the Homeland Security Act (Act) that eliminated the funding of the asylum and refugee programs through other INS fees. However, no other provision of the Act provided for a new source of funding and no other bills were passed to address a means to fund these important programs.

As a result, Congress scrambled to find a way to continue funding the asylum and refugee programs. It was determined that they had never intended to decrease the fees for the other INS applications and they remedied the situation by including a provision in the Omnibus Budget Bill, recently passed by Congress and signed into law by the President, which reverted the fees to the prior amounts. The readjusted fees will provide a source of funding for the refugee and asylum programs, once again. An interim rule appeared in the Federal Register on Thursday, February 27, 2003, announcing the return to the previous fees, effective immediately. However, those who filed during the month that the fees were reduced will not be required to pay any additional INS fees as a result of this new regulation.

The INS has clarified that they will accept filings with the reduced fees if they are postmarked on or before February 27, 2003. Any filings postmarked later will be returned unless accompanied by the reinstated, higher fees. The INS filing fees are available through MurthyDotCom.