Federal Judge Places USCIS Fee Increases on Hold

News RoomFebruary 23, 2022

Federal Judge Places USCIS Fee Increases on Hold

Federal Judge Places USCIS Fee Increases on Hold

We will again apologize for interruption of your day – it seems like as each day goes by, something new and remarkable happens in our field that can’t wait a month (or even a week!) until our regular news alert. Last night, Judge White, U.S. District Court Judge in California, released his decision to stop USCIS from implementing its planned fee increase for cases received that are postmarked October 2nd or later. The injunction granted is to the entirety of the fee rule published on August 3rd and immediately prevents USCIS from collecting additional fees at this time until the court rules on the validity of the fee increases.

While we expect USCIS to respond in some manner, they have not yet publicly announced their intent (whether to appeal the injunction, request a stay, or wait till trial/final judgement). What we do know, is that for some period of time we do not expect higher USCIS fees. This gives all Petitioners an opportunity to continue to file under the existing fee system. We also expect that the immigration forms that had yet to be published (but were to go into effect in 48 hours!) will also be delayed along with the fee increases.

Managing Partner, David Brown, was already planning to hold a webinar tomorrow at 3pm CDT (1pm PDT) to explain important elements of the unprecedented October Visa Bulletin. Given this important decision, he will spend the first five minutes of his presentation explaining its impact and how our firm will be handling it. If you wish to join the webinar, please see the invite below.

The October Visa Bulletin and Filing Strategies Explained (for Employees)

David will explain the new October visa bulletin and how it should be interpreted and what it means. He’ll walk through filing strategies and highlight what expectations people should have if they file an application based on the bulletin. He’ll also discuss the option to downgrade an existing EB-2 approval to EB-3 and explain the pros and cons of doing so.

This session is a must attend for anyone whose priority date is current based on the “Dates for Filing” chart or Final Action dates. David will spend the first 45 minutes walking through the various case issues this raises and then open the floor up to a generous Q&A period.

If you are filing your AOS this month, or considering an EB-3 downgrade filing with a concurrent AOS, you should join this free informational webinar to get your questions answered. This session is also ideal for HR and Management to attend if they wish more detailed information related to the filing process and if they were unable to attend our HR only event this past Monday the 28th.

REGISTER HERE

Once registered, you will receive an email with a link to use to join the video chat on the day of the event. Please note: This link should not be shared with others; it is unique to you. If you ever misplace the invitation link, simply visit the webinar schedule on our website to join the LIVE chat.

If you have contacts or colleagues who may benefit from our talks, you are welcome to invite them to join our VIP invitation list by sharing our webinar schedule where they can subscribe for further information.

Don’t miss these opportunities to increase your knowledge on important immigration issues!

Thank you and we look forward to having you at the event.

Best Regards,

The Team at Brown Immigration Law

** This newsletter/memo is provided for informational and discussion purposes only. It does not act as a substitute for direct legal contact on an individual basis **

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