Generally, the USCIS has discretion to waive the filing fees for an application, petition, motion or request if the applicant establishes that he is unable to pay the fee. Besides maintaining the USCIS discretionary authority to grant fee waivers, the fee waiver guidance issued on March 4, 2004 provides direction on what constitutes ‘inability to pay’.



An applicant does not automatically qualify for a fee waiver based on any one particular situation or factor. Each case is unique and is considered upon its own merits. A fee waiver request may be granted when it has been established to the satisfaction of the USCIS Officer with jurisdiction over the request that the individual is unable to pay the fee.

Inability to pay

In all fee waiver requests applicants are required to demonstrate an ‘inability to pay’. In determining ‘inability to pay’, USCIS Officers may consider the following situations and criteria regarding the applicant:

•Whether the applicant has demonstrated that within the last 180 days, he qualified for or received a ‘federal means-tested public benefit’. This may include, but is not limited to, Food Stamps, Medicaid, Supplemental Security Income, and Temporary Assistance of Needy Families or other public benefit

•Whether the applicant has demonstrated that his household income, on which taxes were paid for the most recent tax year, is at or below the poverty level contained in the most recent poverty guidelines as revised annually by the Secretary of Health and Human Services’

•Whether the applicant is elderly (age 65 and over, at the time the fee request is submitted)

•Whether the applicant is disabled. Applicant should submit verification of disability

•The age and number of dependents in the applicant’s household who are seeking derivative status or benefits concurrently with the principal applicant or beneficiary

•Humanitarian or compassionate reasons, either temporary or permanent, which justify the granting of a fee waiver request. For example: the applicant is temporarily destitute; the applicant does not own, possess, or control assets sufficient to pay the fee without a showing of substantial hardship; or the applicant is on a fixed income and confined to a nursing home

•Any other evidence or factors that the USCIS Officer believe establishes an applicant or petitioner’s inability to pay the required filing fees

Documentation

Documentation, such as the examples listed below, may be submitted to provide proof of the ‘inability to pay’:

•Proof of living arrangements (i.e. living with relatives, living in the applicant’s own house, apartment, etc.), and evidence of whether the applicant’s dependents are residing in his household

•Evidence of current employment or self-employment such as recent pay statements, W-2 forms, statement(s) from the individual’s employer(s) on business stationary showing salary or wages paid, income tax returns (proof of filing of a tax return)

•Mortgage payment receipts, rent receipts, food and clothing receipts, utility bills (such as gas, electricity, telephone, water), child or elder care receipts, tuition bills, transportation expense receipts, medical expense receipts, and proof of other essential expenditures

•Any other proof of essential expenditures

•Proof that verifies the applicant’s disability. The applicant may provide proof of his disability by submitting documentation showing that the disability has been previously determined by the Social Security Administration (SSA), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the Department of Defense (DOD), or other appropriate federal agency

•Proof of the applicant’s extraordinary expenditures or his dependents residing in the U.S. Essential extraordinary expenses are those which do not occur on a monthly basis but which are necessary for the well being of the individual or his dependents

•Proof that the applicant has, within the last 6 months, qualified for and/or received a Federal ‘means-tested public benefit’

•Documentation to show all assets owned, possessed, or controlled by the applicant or by his dependents

•Documentation establishing other financial support or subsidies – such as parental support, alimony, child support, educational scholarships, and fellowships, pensions, Social Security or Veterans Benefits, etc. This includes monetary contributions for the payment of monthly expenses received from adult children, dependents, and other people who are living in the applicant’s household, etc.

•Documentation of debts and liabilities – what is owed on any outstanding loans, credit cards, etc. by the applicant and his dependents, and any other expenses the applicant is responsible for (i.e. insurance, medical/dental bills, etc.)

How to Apply for a Fee Waiver

•To apply for a fee waiver, an applicant must submit an affidavit – or declaration that is signed and dated and includes the statement: “I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct" – requesting a fee waiver and stating the reasons why he is unable to pay the filing fee

•The affidavit and any supporting documentation must be submitted along with the benefit application or petition

•To facilitate the processing of fee waiver requests, applicants should write in large print ‘Fee Waiver Request’ on the outside of the mailing envelope containing their application or petition and fee waiver request, as well as at the top of their affidavit and each page of their supporting information

USCIS Officers evaluate all factors, circumstances, and evidence supplied by the applicant in support of a fee waiver request before making a determination. If a fee waiver request is denied, the entire application package will be returned to the applicant, who must then begin the application process again by re-filing for the benefit with the appropriate fee.

Contact VisaPro if you have any questions regarding visas, or need help in filing with the USCIS or Consulates. Our experienced attorneys will be happy to assist you.

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