For all the international adoption parents out there...

Dear Families and Adoption Professionals: Fees are increasing at USCIS, and there is very little time left tovoice our objection. The following is an outline on how the increaseaffects adoption and what we can do, as a group, to stop the increase. Please feel free to forward this message to any agency, listserv, group or individual who can help to eliminate the fee increasesaffecting adoption. We only have a week left to act on this.

Fee Increase Proposal

On February 1, 2007, USCIS published a Notice of Proposed Rule Makingin the Federal Register that would substantially raise filing fees formost types of cases. If the proposed rule is adopted, filing feeswould increase by an average of 66% over current fees. The proposedrule is subject to a 60-day comment period that ends on April 2, 2007. At the end of the comment period, USCIS will review and consider thecomments it has received on its proposed rule. USCIS will then sendits final proposal to the Office of Management and Budget for review.The OMB will make a final decision on the fee increase and issue thefinal rule.

Timing of Potential Increase

Fortunately, the "adjusted" fees will not take effect until thepublic has an opportunity to comment. The comment period is 60 days beginning February 1, 2007, and ending on April 2, 2007. The increasein fees should not become effective until June 2007 at the earliest.
Adoption-Related Petitions Affected by the Proposed Increase

FormPetition
TypeCurrent
FeeProposed
Fee

I-600/600APetition to Classify Orphan as an Immediate Relative
$ 545
$ 670

N-565Application for Replacement of Certificate of Citizenship (used forname changes)
$ 220
$ 380

N-600Application for Certificate of Citizenship
$ 255
$ 460

Biometric Services (fingerprints)
$ 70
$ 80

Together, Let's Make a Difference!

Adoption is expensive enough already, and it is unconscionable to
raise fees by up to 66% for adoption-related petitions. This can be
fought, but it needs action by everyone in the adoption community.
You action is needed quickly as we only have aweek left to voice our
objections.

Submit Your Comments to USCIS by April 2, 2007

Anyone may comment on the proposed regulation. Those interested incommenting should take time to review the proposed regulation andformulate logical, potentially persuasive statements. Comments willbe made public, as they will be posted as submitted at http://www.regulations.gov./ One should NOT include any personal detail unless s/he is willing to share it freely. While no one likes prices to go up, simply complaining about the increase in costs is unlikelyto have an impact.

Comments must be received by April 2, 2007, and must reference the agency name (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services), as well as the docket number (USCIS-2006-0044). Comments may be submitted athttp://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/component/main, the Federal eRulemaking Portal, or via mail or courier, in hardcopy, disk, or CD-ROM form to:

Director, Management DivisionU.S.
Citizenship and Immigration Services
Department of Homeland Security
111 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, 3rd Floor
Washington D.C. 20529

Conclusion

Voicing your opinion makes you part of the democratic process, and this is how the U.S. government and legal systems are supposed to work. Although most of us hesitate to publicly comment, the government really does carefully consider the content of comments, as well as the sheer number of those responding. When USCIS introduced regulations to reduce the time for B-2 tourist visits from six months to 30 days, for example, there were more than 10,000 comments. That convinced the USCIS to shelve the proposal. Remember, the key is the QUANTITY of responses they get. It should not be difficult to get atleast 10,000 of us to comment. Please take the time today to do this.

Together, we CAN make a difference!

posted at 11:27 AM  
Labels: Adoption