Implementation of the New Fingerprint Procedures
Prior to May 1998

Since March 29, 1998, applicants for all immigration benefits have to be fingerprinted by the INS or an INS-designated facility after filing the application for Naturalization or an Adjustment of Status application, etc.

According to INS, applicants for all immigration benefits requiring fingerprints will be mailed a notice scheduling them to appear for fingerprinting at one of the more than 100 fingerprinting offices INS is opening around the country, or at another INS-designated location. The notification will specify a week for the applicant to appear. INS will submit the fingerprints to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for a background check, which will be completed before the immigration benefit is granted to the applicant.

INS has released the following information about the new process:

Applicants with applications received prior to March 29 will not be charged a fingerprinting fee, even if the applicant has not yet been fingerprinted. Applicants who submit applications on or after March 29 will be charged $25 per person to be fingerprinted. The fee should be sent with the application and should be a separate check and in addition to the filing fee for the particular benefit being sought; e.g., naturalization applicants will submit the $25 fingerprinting fee plus the current $95 naturalization fee.

According to the INS regulation, applications filed without the fee will NOT be returned as improperly filed. Instead, the Service will notify the applicant to submit the correct fee for the fingerprinting, and will withhold processing of the application, including scheduling for fingerprinting, until the correct fingerprinting fee is received.

All applications that are filed (this means received, not postmarked) prior to March 29, 1998, will not be assessed the new fee, even if they have not been fingerprinted prior to that date. When those applicants are scheduled to visit their local Application Support Center (ASC) or other INS fingerprinting facility, the submission date of their application will appear in their A file.

In the last 3 weeks since the new procedures have been in place, the INS has not been able to process those applications where the $25 check was added to the INS filing fees because of the inability of the computer system to accept the new number! INS is hoping to address this computer glitch in the near future!!