Catholic Charities USA, with the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC) and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), submitted comments in response to proposed changes to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) fee schedule and certain other immigration benefit request requirements. The submitted comments express concern that several of the proposed fee increases would impose too high a barrier to access lawful immigration status.
While an effort was made to minimize fee increases for forms related to naturalization and some humanitarian categories, many of the changes would nonetheless make applying
for and maintaining lawful immigration status unaffordable for many immigrants. Low-income immigrants are most susceptible to the proposed increases.
CCUSA, CLINIC and USCCB request that USCIS reconsider a number of the proposed fee changes, which would cause a disparate impact on the most vulnerable populations and prevent low-income immigrants from achieving or maintaining lawful status or progressing along the pathway toward U.S. citizenship.
