Immigration Fees Go Up, Penalizing Legal Applicants

When I talk to people about poverty in the America, they often forget that immigrants are part of the equation. Why? Well, built-in bias from the media about undocumented workers deserving their fate of toiling in endless job cycles of dish washing, farm work and domestic labor is certainly part of it. But people also assume that if you have enough money to file the paperwork and move to the states, you have enough to stay afloat.

I speak from personal experience on this one (my partner is an immigrant): that just isn't the case. My guy and I will squeak by because we have a number of other privileges working in our favor, but when the U.S. Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services continues to raise rates for green card applications and naturalization fees, they really ought not wonder why undocumented immigration seems so appealing to so many.

The self-financed agency recently decided that raising most fees by 10 percent would be the best way to make up for its $200 million budget shortfalls. Green card application fees, or legal residence permit fees, will increase from $930 to $985. Employment authorization forms — that is, a work permit — will cost $380, up from $340. And if you think $50 here and there isn't a big deal, you oughta read the list of required paperwork, fees and fingerprinting charges to boot. This stuff adds up quickly. Oh, and they're also tacking on a few new fees for good measure. Wouldn't want anyone not paying their dues. (Please note the sarcasm.) The only consistent fee is the $595 it costs for naturalization. That fee was already hiked by a whopping 69 percent in 2007.

To be fair, a few of the costs will be dropping, like the price of fiancée visas. But perhaps you'll appreciate why this isn't exactly a victory: a fiancée visa has to be thrown out and a new spousal visa requested and approved after you get married. Lowering the fee on a temporary permit that will be revoked the moment you get hitched? Gee, thanks for the cheaper double payment.

There are waivers available for poor immigrants to avoid some of these steep fees, but for now, there's no clear system in place for navigating the bureaucratic maze, nor is there a standardized process by which waivers are granted.

There are an inordinate number of U.S. citizens who get all bent out of shape about immigration and demand we build fences and ramp up border patrols. But will those same people defend legal immigration and take a stand against outrageously high fees just to keep the CIS afloat in the first place? Will they argue in favor of redirecting the billions spent on keeping undocumented workers out by welcoming legal applicants? I highly doubt it.

Photo credit: Dru Bloomfield - At Home in Scottsdale