The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services fee rule had three dates worth separating in the October 29, 2016 weekend record. A proposal appeared May 4. The final rule was published October 24. December 23 was the effective date and the threshold for applications or petitions mailed, postmarked or otherwise filed with the new fees. There was no new Saturday announcement. [2016-25328]
The final schedule increased fees by a weighted average of 21 percent. That description summarized the schedule rather than imposing an identical percentage increase on each request. For example, the rule set the standard N-400 naturalization filing fee at $640 and a $320 tier for applicants whose documented income was above 150 percent and no more than 200 percent of the federal poverty level. [2016-25328]
The earlier proposal supplies the financial explanation, not the final payment instruction. USCIS estimated that retaining the existing schedule would leave an average annual $560 million shortfall between revenue and costs in its fee account. The estimate was conditional on unchanged fees. It cannot be treated as an observed deficit or as evidence that the later schedule actually closed a gap. [2016-25328][2016-10297]
A reader reconstructing the decision should therefore match the final fee to the particular request and the applicable filing date, rather than apply the headline average to an old bill. Both documents are primary records from one rulemaking chain, not independent corroboration. Together they establish the agency's reasoning and adopted timetable; they do not show subsequent processing performance or provide current filing advice. [2016-25328][2016-10297]
Source documents
- U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Fee Schedulehttps://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2016-10-24/html/2016-25328.htm
- U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Fee Schedulehttps://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2016-05-04/html/2016-10297.htm