Increasing citizenship fees blocks Miamians from the American Dream | Opinion
Two weeks ago, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) quietly proposed a dramatic increase to the fees it charges legal permanent residents to undertake the naturalization process to become full U.S. citizens.
This change moves the goal post for more than 1.4 million Miamians who are on the path to becoming US citizens by:
<bullet> Eliminating the fee waiver for naturalization, citizenship and green card applications
<bullet>Increasing the application for naturalization by 83 percent — from the current $640 to $1,170.
<bullet>Increasing the cost associated in obtaining and retaining permanent residency by 79 percent — from the current $1,225 to $2,195.
The American Dream should be earned, not bought.
The proposal creates a new roadblock to the path to citizenship. If implemented, these fees will stop many of the 400,000 eligible legal permanent residents (LPRs) in Miami - who have earned their right to become citizens, have met all of the requirements, and learned English - from becoming US Citizens.
These fees may even jeopardize their ability to remain in the United States, since legal permanent residents will also have to pay exorbitant fees to maintain the residency in the U.S.
In 2015, the Miami-Dade County Commissioners, Mayor Carlos Gimenez, Citi Community Development and the Florida Immigrant Coalition together created the Office of New Americans (ONA) to help our legal permanent residents navigate the path to citizenship. ONA helps our residents overcome the primary barriers that can block that path — namely, the cost of the application and access to affordable, qualified immigration lawyers.
We know that most hardworking families cannot afford $1,170 per person, in addition to attorneys’ fees that cost upwards of $1,000. According to the United Way, only 41 percent of those living in Miami-Dade have enough savings or liquid assets to cover an emergency, despite being fully employed.
These increased fees will not only cause financial hardship for the 400,000 aspiring Americans, they will also increase reliance on predatory financial products such as pay-day loans and result in forgoing qualified legal assistance. This will have devastating effects for our friends, our neighbors, and our families,
As the daughter of two naturalized Americans, I know firsthand how much becoming citizens of their chosen home meant to them. While in college, my mother and her older sister, both special education teachers, together decided it was finally time to become US citizens after having immigrated here as young children. In 1982, the year they applied for citizenship, the fee for their naturalization applications was $80.
The decision to apply for citizenship was — and is — a personal and powerful decision that families often make together, with two or more family members applying at a time. The changes proposed by USCIS would make U.S. citizenship and the American Dream unattainable for most families.
Congress has called on USCIS to keep the pathway to citizenship affordable and accessible.
This proposal does neither. Naturalization is vital to our democracy and our economy. All Americans have a strong interest in encouraging eligible people to choose U.S. citizenship. The rule proposed by USCIS betrays this interest and is an affront to American values.
What can you do?
We were only given 30 days to submit a public comment. Ask DHS to rescind this proposed fee change by Dec. 16th, 2019 at http://bit.ly/natzfee.
Krystina Francois is the Executive Director of the Office of New Americans of Miami-Dade.
This story was originally published December 6, 2019 at 3:17 AM.
