USCIS NEW FEE INCREASE EFFECTIVE ON November 23, 2010

US Citizenship and Immigration (USCIS) issued a reminder that its new fee schedule will take effect on Tuesday, November 23, 2010.К Applications or petitions postmarked or otherwise filed on or after this date must include the new fee or they will be rejected.

As a practical matter, it is clear that if the application or petition is postmarked on Monday, November 22, 2010 but arrives on or after Tuesday, November 23, 2010, the old filing fee would be applicable and the application should not be rejected. КThe ТpostmarkУ need not be issued from the U.S. Postal Service.К КThe American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) has received further guidance [see AILA Infonet Doc. No. 10111962 (posted on Nov. 19, 2010)] from the USCIS confirming that a receipt notice from a courier service or another mailing service will be considered ТpostmarkedУ for determining whether the old or the new fee schedule is applicable.К In the meantime, we refer you to USCIS Frequently Asked Question # 2 dated July 2, 2007, http://www.uscis.gov/files/pressrelease/FAQ2.pdf, which discussed the meaning of ТpostmarkУ relating to a courier service with respect to filings during the July Visa Bulletin 2007 period.

Q.25: Does a receipt notice from a courier service or overnight mailing service constitute a ТpostmarkУ?

A.25. Yes, the date the item is entered into the courierХs service system will be the postmark date for fee determination purposes.

USCIS published the new fee schedule in the Federal Register on September 24, 2010, following a review of public comments received after publication of the proposed rule this past summer. The new fee schedule increases application and petition fees by an average of about 10 percent but does not increase the naturalization application fee.

A table listing the old and new fees is available at
http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?v
gnextoid=92c5e116de9eb210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=68439
c7755cb9010VgnVCM10000045f3d6a1RCRD. The final rule is available at http://edock
et.access.gpo.gov/2010/pdf/2010-23725.pdf.