What are they smoking??

"USCIS may well be the only government agency other than the Postal Service that tries to operate 99% on user fees. These fees are expected to pay not just for the services delivered to the applicant, but for the agency's overhead and for law enforcement activities such as investigations and security checks. It is well past time that the Administration requested, and the Congress appropriated, funds to allow this agency to properly do its job. Funding an entire agency on the backs of immigrants and their U.S. citizen spouses is beyond the pale."

"Also, AILA is concerned that the public will not get significantly improved services to go with the significantly increased fees," said Tapia-Ruano. "USCIS Director Gonzalez has stated a goal for the agency of a 20% improvement in processing times by the end of 2009. A 66% increase in fees now for at best a 20% improvement in service three years from now is simply not acceptable."

Carlina Tapia-Ruano, President
American Immigration Lawyers Association

If you don't have to deal with immigration then maybe this isn't news but it should incense everyone that according to a notice to be published in the Federal Register tomorrow, immigration filing fees will be increased by an average of 66%.

Filing for a green card currently costs $325 plus a $70 fingerprint fee. This fee is to be raised to $905, plus $80 for the fingerprints.

If you don't like a decision and want to appeal, you may do so, but it will now cost you $585. (up from $385, which itself was increased from $110 only a year and a half ago.)

You want to become a citizen and vote? Sure! In addition to lengthy background checks, you will also have to pay $675. (up from $400)

Want to visit your family back home while your green card is being processed? Pay us $305 (as opposed to $170).

WHAT the hell is that about? During the past 10 or so years we've already seen a fourfold increase in filing fees. Now they're raising them again So: we're going to break your financial back, and in return, we will TRY to decrease your waiting time by 20% in about three years.

This pisses me off. The USCIS is one of the most incompetent agencies of the federal government. The US prides itself on being a nation of immigrants, but Congress will not appropriate one dime to help pay for the administrative system of granting immigration benefits to people. The CIS is a roughly 2 billion a year agency. They spend nearly that much in Iraq every day. So the agency is fee-based. And with all the technology available, they still rely on horribly outdated paper-and-pencil methods of administration, which result in files being lost, processing delays, and in some cases, people getting immigration benefits when they shouldn't get them, and then 10 years later the error is discovered and the poor alien is told, sorry, you have no status, and you've been out of status for 10 years, you can't work, and here's a Notice to Appear (NTA) in immigration court where you must show cause why you should not be removed from the United States. Every immigration attorney I know has a plethora of war stories about USCIS incompetence. That's an indication that something's terribly wrong.

Not to mention the fact that this system is now so expensive that it will cut out a huge class of working poor who will now be unable to afford to comply with the law. More people will try to do it themselves, or worse simply fall out of status, which will of course result in more screwups and ultimately, more NTA's.