Motion Fees to Increase
Posted Sep 02, 2005
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The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a final rule in the Federal Register on August 29, 2005 that will increase the Motion to Reopen and Reconsider fees from $110 to $385 per motion. The increase will be effective as of September 28, 2005. The possibility of this increase was reported in our December 3, 2004, MurthyBulletin article, Regulatory Activity on November 30, 2004, available on MurthyDotCom.
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Who Is Affected?
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The increase affects anyone who wants to file a Motion to Reopen or Reconsider a denial that is under the jurisdiction of the Administrative Appeals Office (AAO). It does not affect appeals that are submitted to the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA). BIA appeals, however, are limited to decisions of immigration court judges, family-based immigrant visa petitions (also referred to as I-130 petitions), and appeals from decisions that impose administrative fines or penalties. Therefore, any motions to reopen or reconsider for adjustment of status applications, employment-based immigrant visa petitions, and any nonimmigrant petitions are generally subject to the new fee increase.
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AAO - Part of the Backlog Reduction Plan
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The USCIS acknowledges that the AAO is included in the backlog reduction plan, which requires that all immigration benefit applications be processed in six months or less. The USCIS believes that this increase in the fees will assist the AAO to reach this goal.
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Conclusion
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This is a sizeable increase in fees. In most instances, the motion fee is now higher than the USCIS filing fee for the type of case that has been denied. If one's case is denied, we at The Law Office of Sheela Murthy recommend that the individual speak with a qualified immigration attorney to determine whether it will be more beneficial to file a motion to reopen or to file a new case.