Thread: Immigrants Dread Fee Increases

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Immigrants Dread Fee Increases

Immigrants fight a proposed rate hike. Citizenship papers could become more costly. In some cases, doubling or tripling the cost for a green card or citizenship.

LSAT test books show law school may be in Julio Ibarra's future. He says you just about have to be a lawyer to figure out a backlogged immigration system.

"There are people who waited to some degree up to 14 years," he said.

Ibarra's business assists people with government forms. But soon the federal filing fees could go up.

"Double to some of them, triple to some of them," Ibarra said.

And that could be deadly.

Ibarra said, "To become a U.S. citizen right now it costs roughly $400. With the newer prices, if approved, it's going to go to $800 to $900."

The immigration system has undergone an overhaul. It was ICE, Immigration and Customs Enforcement that carried out the Swift raids. Now a separate agency handles citizenship.

That Citizenship and Immigration Service insists a fee hike will improve sluggish service. But many disagree.

"I believe it's going to be a burden to a lot of people," Ibarra said.

It's possible to get those fees waived on the grounds of poverty, but Ibarra says the catch-22 is the government many deny papers for the poor. And more of his clients will feel poor if fees increase.

He said, "We have a lot of people with two or three jobs to make ends meet, a lot of single parents with children. Basically it's a lot of money."

The proposed rate hike is still up for debate.

"We hope and pray it will not be approved," Ibarra said.

Groups supporting the rate hike say it makes sense. They argue it's a user fee, and those applying for a green card or citizenship should be the ones paying, not taxpayers. Some think it'll cut down on the number of people applying for citizenship.

Reporter's Notes by Steve White:
The proposal is open to public comment at this time. It will be some time until new fees are approved.

Ibarra said the government regularly increases the fees because of inflation. He said past increases were reasonable. He said this increase is too high. The government says it's about modernizing the system to speed up the process, but Ibarra said most don't think the fee hike will improve the situation.



Story Created: Mar 2, 2007 at 6:21 PM CST

Story Updated: Mar 2, 2007 at 9:51 PM CST

Well, when foreign workers accept lowball salaries, brag about undercutting American workers and call us greedy, I'm sure it becomes harder to afford things.

Originally Posted by BetsyRoss

Well, when foreign workers accept lowball salaries, brag about undercutting American workers and call us greedy, I'm sure it becomes harder to afford things.

well said!!

Sounds like the fee will still be too little for an opportunity to become a citizen in this great nation. They should be grateful for any chance at all and until they achieve citizenship they should be quiet because their opinions have worn the welcome mat out. Just my opinion.

The ACLU plus a few others will jump all over me for this one but……..

If a person can’t be a productive citizen at this time, we don’t need them. As long as it takes to save $4oo.oo it shouldn’t take them as long to save $8oo .oo
I believe that in times like these we should be looking in to the back grounds of the new immigrants more.

1. Credit history and such
2 .Criminal back grounds
3. Family back grounds
4. Productions in the home country by the immigrant
5. Goals or motivation of the immigrant from a from a country that has seen a need to supply America with criminals out the ying yang (I’m not taking any racist view we are just over populated with the criminal immigrants, from certain countries.)
We don’t need any more low income workers till our countries unemployment rate is way, way below 0.0 , even then our current prisoners can pick up the slack. Our welfare system is taxed enough if a person can’t come up with 800 bucks at any time we don’t need them in this country as a new citizens.
I’m not saying later we can’t help to take on a few families. that’s what America is all about.
Until this mess that in our laps is cleaned up and we have pulled away form the washing machine. The increase should be 10 times $8oo.oo and not to any criminal providing countries at all…. The increase could be used to make a point to foreign governments, they need to help their own people. The curent fee is not used properly in my poinion any way.

Why thank you, Lone.

If they don't have a problem paying thousands to a smuggler, what's the big deal about paying a measley $900 to become a citizen in a country they broke into and are receiving benefits and education for their children that they should not be entitled to? These people must think they are immune from any responsibility at all.

Originally Posted by WhatMattersMost

If they don't have a problem paying thousands to a smuggler, what's the big deal about paying a measley $900 to become a citizen in a country they broke into and are receiving benefits and education for their children that they should not be entitled to? These people must think they are immune from any responsibility at all.

Thats exactly what I was thinking when I read it.

It's possible to get those fees waived on the grounds of poverty, but Ibarra says the catch-22 is the government many deny papers for the poor. And more of his clients will feel poor if fees increase.

We all feel poor when we watch our government hand out freebies to people that don't deserve them. Our government caters to the poor...I'm quite sure that many people have gotten their fees waived.

These folks need to understand, the cost of administering the program is no longer covered by the fees charged. The current prices were put in place years ago and were designed to cover the cost of the program. Well, guess what, much like everything else in our economy the cost of administrating the program has increased and is now exceeding the fees charged. Furthermore, the cost increase is also supposed to make the process more efficient, which means more people can be processed more quickly. It is my understanding that the program is not supposed to be subsidized by the American citizen taxpayers.

With all that said, I can't help but think this increase has something to do with the 20 million criminal aliens Bush and a majority of the Democrats want to legalize.