ASISTA stridently opposes the proposed fee rule published in the Federal Register yesterday as it further advances the Administration’s callous agenda to create significant barriers to equal access to immigration relief. The new proposed rule makes sweeping changes, including but not limited to:
In the beginning of November, two lawsuits were filed challenging the harmful revisions to USCIS fee waiver forms . USCIS’ new revisions limit the criteria for fee waivers and increase burdens on low-income applicants applying for immigration relief.
On June 5, 2019, USCIS published another notice and opportunity for comment on their proposed fee waiver changes . These changes were initially proposed in September 2018 , and later addressed in a second opportunity for comment in April 2019 . This third notice provides additional details regarding USCIS’ rationale for adjusting the fee waiver form and practices. You can review this new notice here . We encourage stakeholders to submit comments to show the impact of these harmful changes to fee waiver forms and guidance on survivors and their families.
ASISTA is collecting stories where fee waivers for applications related to VAWA self-petitions, U visas, T visas, SIJS and other humanitarian protections have been denied, including motions to reopen/reconsider and appeals. This is the first in a series of data collection tools ASISTA is releasing to strengthen our advocacy efforts and to demonstrate the numerous systemic barriers that immigrant survivors face created by changes to USCIS policy and practice.