Hammond Law Group has learned that the USCIS proposal to increase filing fees may soon go into effect, possibly as early as July 2007. In January 2007 the USCIS issued a fee increase proposal to raise average immigration filing fees by 66%, as reported in the HLG Immigration Alert of 2/1/07.

The USCIS accepted written comments to its proposed fee increase and reportedly received as many as 7,000 comments, many of which opposed the massive fee increase. Some members of Congress were also opposed to such a signficant fee increase including Representative Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Chair of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration who called for fee increases to be "fair and reasonable.”

It is expected that USCIS will provide notice of at least 30 or 60 days before the fee increase takes effect.