United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published their plan to increase the fee to file an application for citizenship to $1,170, an increase of 83%. The plan also eliminates the possibility of waiving the filing fee for the vast majority of low income immigrants. This change is set to go into effect in 60 days on October 2, 2020. Read more here.
This change creates a wealth test for naturalization, making citizenship completely inaccessible to low income immigrants. This blatant discrimination comes just in time for the 2020 election.
Project Citizenship is fighting back. In the coming week, we will file a lawsuit with the pro bono support of Ropes & Gray, suing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), challenging this discriminatory rule change.
At Project Citizenship, we work to ensure that all lawful permanent residents have access to the path to U.S. citizenship. We offer free, high quality legal services, and work to simplify the process and break down the many barriers to naturalization. This policy change will make citizenship unattainable for over 70% of our clients, who live in poverty.
While the lawsuit plays out in the courts, we urge all green card holders to call our office to schedule an appointment as soon as possible. Due to the pandemic, all appointments will be over the phone, in an effort to make accessing our services both easy and safe.
Since its founding in 2014, Project Citizenship has assisted over 7,700 lawful permanent residents on the path to citizenship. Call Project Citizenship at 617-694-5949 or visit our website at www.projectcitizenship.org for more information.
