what is required to be eligible for a fee waiver?

• Introduction: Clearing Fee Waivers
• Forms and Classes of Applicants Eligible for Fee Waivers
• Agency Guidance Regarding Fee Waiver Eligibility (Including Form I-912 Instructions)
  • 1. Means Tested Do good
  • 2. Federal Poverty Guidelines
  • 3. Fiscal Hardship Due to Extraordinary Circumstances or Other Circumstances
• Fee Waiver's Effect on Immigration Condition
• Applying for a Fee Waiver
• Conclusion

Introduction: Immigration Fee Waivers

The bulk of filings with the United states of america Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) crave a filing fee in order for the application/form to be filed and processed. Nonetheless, an applicant may qualify for an clearing fee waiver for many of these forms past filing the Form I-912, Asking for Fee Waiver. Before reading this article, delight see our total article discussing the situations in which an applicant with the USCIS will even be eligible to file a Form I-912 for a fee waiver for the fee associated with a specific USCIS form [run into article]. In this commodity, we will discuss the evidentiary requirements for establishing eligibility for a fee waiver with the Form I-912 and the filing procedure.

To learn about fee waiver requests with the Executive Role of Immigration Review (EOIR), please encounter our full commodity [encounter article].

Forms and Classes of Applicants Eligible for Fee Waivers

8 C.F.R. 103.7 lists the current fees for USCIS immigration forms while section (c)(3) of the aforementioned regulation lists the forms for which fee waivers may be sought. The regulations in 8 C.F.R. 103.7(c)(three) are described in the instructions for the electric current version of the Form I-912 [run across instructions]. We will reproduce the listing of all of the forms for which fee waivers may exist granted. In order to request a fee waiver, an applicant must file the Form I-912, Awarding for Fee Waiver [see electric current edition equally of 08/26/xvi (dated 04/25/15)].

Delight encounter our full commodity to learn about the forms for which an bidder may file the Form I-912 to seek a fee waiver [see article].

Agency Guidance Regarding Fee Waiver Eligibility (Including Form I-912 Instructions)

Department 10.9(b) of the USCIS's Adjudicator's Field Manual (AFM) sets forth a three-pace process for because eligibility for a fee waiver [come across PM-602-0011.1 (Mar. 13, 2011)]. In lodge to establish eligibility for a fee waiver, the applicant must establish his or her inability to pay the fee. Furthermore, the AFM explains that the waiver based on the inability to pay must be consequent with the status or the benefit sought from the USCIS. This issue may come up in cases where the applicant is seeking a condition or benefit that depends in part on his or her ability to back up him or herself or on his or her making a substantial financial investment.

The AFM explains that each determination will be made on a case-by-case basis in accordance with the following criteria. The USCIS website page titled "Boosted Data on Filing a Fee Waiver" (final updated Jun. 2, 2016) ("USCIS website" or "website") [link] explains that an applicant must check which ane of these three criteria forms the basis of his or her fee waiver request. The bidder may choose to have his or her application considered on more than than one footing. However, the bidder must provide sufficient evidence for at least one basis of eligibility for a fee waiver in club for the fee waiver to be granted.

1. Means-Tested Benefit

The simplest fashion for an applicant for a fee waiver to institute his or her eligibility is to present evidence showing that he or she is currently receiving a "means-tested benefit." This is because ways-tested public benefits are determined based on a person's income and resources. The AFM explains that if an applicant provides sufficient proof that he or she is receiving a means-tested benefit, the fee waiver volition "ordinarily exist approved" without further evidence existence required.

The USCIS website includes a chart list some mutual federal programs that are ways-tested benefit programs and federal programs that are not means-tested benefit programs. We have reproduced the chart below for your convenience:

In order to exist a "means-tested benefit," eligibility to receive the benefit must depend on the person's income and resource. This explains why, for example, Medicaid is a means-tested benefit programme whereas Medicare is not. Information technology is important to annotation that an applicant for a fee waiver may submit evidence showing that he or she is the casher of any government means-tested program, whether information technology is federally, state, or locally funded. The USCIS website encourages applicants to provide detailed data if the benefit is not well known outside his or her locality.

The AFM and the USCIS website explain that an applicant must submit a alphabetic character, find, or other official document(south) that incorporate the following information:

Name of the applicant;
Name of the agency granting the benefit;
The type of benefit; and
An indication that the applicant is currently receiving the benefit (eastward.g. date granted, expiration date, and/or appointment of renewal, if available).

The USCIS website advises that a benefit carte du jour is not sufficient by itself unless it contains the above information.

An bidder who is not receiving a ways-tested do good may rely upon his or her spouse'due south receiving a means-tested benefit in support of the fee waiver application and so long as the bidder is residing with his or her spouse and they are not legally separated. If the bidder has a kid under the age of 21, the child may authorize for a waiver based on his or her receiving a ways-tested benefit. However, a parent may non qualify for a waiver solely based on his or her kid'southward receiving a means-tested benefit if the parent does not receive a ways-tested benefit. Nonetheless, evidence that the kid is receiving a means-tested benefit may support the parent's case for eligibility for a fee waiver in conjunction with other testify (due east.g., it would support the case for other members of the household if the child's public benefit indicates that the household meets certain federal poverty guidelines benchmarks).

If a parent or of an adult kid or legal ward who is disabled (physically or developmentally) or mentally impaired (and who is single and cannot care for him or herself or maintain or plant a household), the parent or guardian may obtain an assigned representative for the means-tested benefit. Furthermore, evidence nigh the custody or disability of the adult child or ward may back up a finding that a fee waiver is warranted.

two. Federal Poverty Guidelines

The AFM explains that, if the applicant cannot establish eligibility through a means-tested do good, the applicant may seek to demonstrate "that his or her household income, on which taxes were paid for the most recent tax year, is at or below 150 percentage of the Federal Poverty Level every bit established in the most contempo poverty guidelines." The current federal poverty guidelines can be found at aspe.hhs.gov/poverty-guidelines and on the Class I-912P, 2016 HHS Poverty Guidelines for Fee Waiver Asking [meet 2016 version].

If an bidder demonstrates that his or her household is at or below 150 percent of the current Federal Poverty Level, his or her fee waiver request volition unremarkably be canonical without the need for further evidence.

The AFM explains that for purpose of determining eligibility for a fee waiver, a household may include the applicant and any of the following:

Spouse;
Parent(south) living with the applicant;
An unmarried child or legal ward under the historic period of 21 living with the applicant;
An single child or legal ward over the historic period of 21 merely under the age of 24 who is a total-fourth dimension pupil living with the applicant when he or she is not at school; or
An single kid or legal ward for whom the applicant is the legal guardian considering the unmarried child or legal ward is physically or mentally disabled to the extent that he or she cannot adequately treat him or herself and cannot establish, maintain, or re-establish his or her own household.

The bidder may submit the following bear witness to encounter the footstep 2 requirements:

Prove of current employment or self-employment (e.yard., recent pay statements, W2 forms, statement(s) from employer(southward) on business stationary showing salary and/or wages paid, or income tax returns);
Documentation establishing other fiscal support or subsides (e.yard., parental support, alimony, kid back up, educational scholarships and fellowships, pensions, Social Security, veteran's benefits, etc.);
Documentation establishing financial support or subsidies that may include budgetary contributions for the payment of monthly expenses received from adult children, dependents, and other people living in the applicant'south household;
Federal tax render(due south) listing the members of the applicant'southward household (if available).

The USCIS website explains that the applicant must list the head of his or her household's income on the fee waiver asking. This is generally either determined by the head of household as determined by the IRS or by the person who owns the majority of money in the household.

If the bidder's spouse lives overseas and provides monetary support to the household, the spouse's contributions to the household must be included in the application. If the spouse living overseas is unemployed and is supported past the applicant, the applicant must state this on the course. If the spouse lives overseas and otherwise provides no support to the applicant'south household, the applicant should include a statement explaining the situation.

The AFM states that the following prove should exist included in the example that the bidder is filing as a Special Immigrant Juvenile (SIJ) [see category] or on behalf of an SIJ:

A recent land or juvenile court society establishing dependency of or custodial understanding pertaining to the SIJ; or
A letter from a foster intendance home or like agency overseeing the SIJ's custodial placement that describes the SIJ'south inability to pay; or
An approval notice on a Course I-797, Notice of Activity, for a Form I-360 filed for the SIJ.

The USCIS website states that information technology will consider homelessness in reviewing a fee waiver request. If the applicant receives services from a homeless shelter, he or she should include a currently dated and signed letter from the shelter on the shelter's letterhead with an caption. If a homeless applicant does non reside in a shelter, the bidder should provide an affidavit from "a member of practiced standing" of his or her community who both knows the applicant and can support the applicant's claims that he or she is homeless and unable to pay the fees.

three. Fiscal Hardship Due to Extraordinary Circumstances or Other Circumstances

The AFM explains that the final pace to evaluating an applicant'due south eligibility for a fee waiver is to make up one's mind whether he or she is nether fiscal hardship "due to extraordinary circumstances or other circumstances affecting his or her financial situation" that return him or her unable to pay the fees associated with a USCIS grade or service. An bidder who may non be able to establish the disability to pay through step one or 2 may endeavor to institute his or her inability to pay through extraordinary or other circumstances.

The AFM provides a non-exhaustive list of "extraordinary circumstances or other circumstances" that may suffice for establishing eligibility for a fee waiver:

Unexpected and uninsured (or underinsured) medical bills;
Situations that could not normally be expected in the regular grade of life events; or
A medical emergency or catastrophic disease affecting the private or the individual's dependents.

The AFM explains that if the applicant is under fiscal hardship, he or she must submit bear witness that shows that he or she "has suffered a sufficiently negative fiscal impact" every bit a result of the hardship that occurred inside a "reasonably recent period preceding the filing of the fee waiver request" and that the hardship rendered the applicant'southward income during such period bereft to pay the USCIS fee.

The USCIS lists the following documentation that may suffice for showing that the applicant is under financial hardship such that he or she should be granted a fee waiver:

Documentation of all assets owned, possessed, or controlled past the bidder and his or her dependents;
Documentation concerning liabilities and expenses owed by the individual and his or her dependents, and any other expenses for which the bidder is responsible;
Evidence of the applicant's income, or if the applicant cannot provide evidence of his or her income, he or she should provide a clarification of the financial hardship and why he or she cannot provide show of income (due east.g., affidavits from churches and/or other customs-based organizations indicating that the applicant is currently receiving some do good from such an entity that may be used as evidence of income);
Any other documentation or evidence that demonstrates the applicant'southward inability to pay the requisite fee due to the applicant's overall fiscal pic and household situation.

The AFM encourages applicants to consider, in the course of organizing documentation, whether greenbacks or assets exist aside from income that could exist used to pay the fee later on beingness liquidated. The AFM offers as an example the ownership of stocks or other avails that could be easily liquidated. This is because a fee waiver is non for "difficulty" in paying a fee but rather for "disability."

Fee Waiver's Effect on Immigration Status

If the applicant for a fee waiver had a Class I-134, Affidavit of Support, or a Form I-864, Affidavit of Support under Section 213 of the Act, filed on his or her behalf, that person will still be responsible for coming together his or her obligations to support the applicant. Withal, the USCIS website explains that it will only consider that person'southward income or assets in determining whether the applicant is eligible for a fee waiver if the person who signed the affidavit is a fellow member of the applicant's household. However, any fiscal contributions to the applicant'southward household may exist considered.

The USCIS website notes that for certain immigration benefits, a reliance on public cash assistance may render an alien inadmissible on public charge grounds [meet article]. Furthermore, certain classes of aliens may be deportable from the United States for having get a public charge within v years of entering the United States for reasons that arose prior to entry. Note that for certain fees, an applicant may but use if he or she is exempt from the public accuse footing of inadmissibility.

Even so, the website explains that the USCIS will not consider whether the bidder may be admissible or deportable for existence a public accuse in adjudicating the fee waiver request. Rather, the USCIS will consider the fee waiver requests on its own merits. However, if the conflicting must demonstrate that he or she is non or volition not exist a public accuse to obtain an immigration do good, it is possible, if not likely, that the grounds for which he or she is granted a fee waiver would ultimately lead to the denial of the benefit request.

If the applicant is found to take provided simulated documentation, misrepresented material facts, or other fraud on the Form I-912, USCIS will deny both the fee waiver request and the underlying benefit request. Furthermore, the alien may be found to exist inadmissible.

Applying for a Fee Waiver

The USCIS website explains that the USCIS may take a letter with all of the necessary data that states the request for a fee waiver in lieu of the Grade I-912. The letter of the alphabet must contain all of the necessary information that states the request for a fee waiver, be signed by everyone requesting the fee waiver, and include all of the requisite supporting testify.

The Form I-912 or the letter of the alphabet must be filed in accordance with the form instructions to the agency that is treatment the benefit request. The website explains that if the Form I-912 is submitted with insufficient bear witness, this may either lead to a denial or a delay in processing. Applicants should therefore ensure to submit all of the required evidence to ensure that the Grade I-912 is adjudicated in a timely manner.

Information technology is of import to note that if the applicant submits the fee waiver request along with the appropriate fee, the fee volition exist accepted and the fee waiver request will non be considered.

The Form I-912 instructions explain that if the fee waiver request is denied, the applicant will receive notice of the deprival in the form of the Class Thousand-1054, Asking for Fee Waiver Denial Letter of the alphabet, along with data well-nigh how to reapply for the immigration benefit or awarding with the proper filing fee. It is of import to note that applicants may simply accept a limited to resubmit an application or petition with the proper filing fee. The situation will vary depending on the specific facts of the application and the benefit sought.

Conclusion

The fee waiver regulations be to ensure that applicants for certain immigration benefits will not exist precluded from applying for only the inability to pay the requisite filing fees. Nonetheless, it is important to exist aware of the specific situation when filing the fee waiver request, including if the filing of the underlying awarding or petition is time-sensitive (due east.g., applications associated with Temporary Protected Status (TPS)). An applicant should only seek a fee waiver if he or she meets 1 of the three criteria for demonstrating the disability to pay and if he or she is unable to pay the requisite filing fees. In many cases, information technology is wise to consult with an experienced immigration attorney. This is especially the case if the applicant who is because a fee waiver request may exist discipline to the public charge basis of inadmissibility.

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Source: http://myattorneyusa.com/establishing-eligibility-for-a-fee-waiver-with-the-uscis

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