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Immigration News Briefs

By Humera Subhani

December 2016

Immigration under a Trump Administration
Immigration lawyers have been swamped with phone calls and walk-ins from frightened and anxious immigrants who are wondering what a Trump Administration will mean for their cases. Trump has made repeated comments about mass deportations and undoing President Obama’s Executive Action for DACA.

Trump made immigration a focal point of his candidacy for president. He told 60 Minutes that he planned to incarcerate or deport undocumented immigrants who have committed crimes, which he estimated would be about 2 million or 3 million people.

He also said that his administration would make a decision on the remaining undocumented immigrants after securing the border.

For now, the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) has stated that, “Though statements on Trump’s campaign website clearly indicate an intention to end DACA, much remains to be seen. We do not know how or when DACA might end.”

USCIS Fees to Increase on December 23, 2016
Effective December 23, 2016, USCIS will increase its filing fees for applications and petitions for immigration and naturalization benefits. Thus, applications and petitions filed and/or mailed on or after December 23, 2016 must have the corresponding adjusted fees, or they will be rejected. USCIS says it was necessary to increase the fees by an average of 21% because the current fees do not recover the full costs of services they provide in adjudicating and deciding the applications and petitions. Some notable fee increases are
• I-129/129CW Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker — $460 ($325)
• I-130 Petition for Alien Relative — $535 ($420)
• I-131/I-131A Application for Travel Document — $575 ($360)
• I-140 Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker — $700 ($580)
• I-485 Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status — $1,140 ($985)
• I-526 Immigrant Petition by Alien Entrepreneur — $3,675 ($1,500)
• I-539 Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status — $370 ($290)
• I-765 Application for Employment Authorization — $410 $380)
• N-400 Application for Naturalization — $640 ($595)

APPLICATION FINAL ACTION DATES FOR December 2016

FAMILY	India	Pakistan/Bangladesh
1st	01Dec09	01Dec09
2A	22Feb15	22Feb15
2B	08May10	08May10
3rd	15Feb05	15Feb05
4th	01Apr03	22Dec03

EMPLOYMENT	India	Pakistan/Bangladesh
1st	Current	Current
2nd	01Feb08	Current
3rd	15Mar05	01Jul16
Other	15Mar05	01Jul16
4th	Current	Current
5th	Current	Current1B

DATES FOR FILING VISA APPLICATIONS - December 2016

FAMILY	India	Pakistan/Bangladesh
1st	01Jan11	01Jan11
2A	22Nov15	22Nov15
2B	08Feb11	08Feb11
3rd	22Aug05	22Aug05
4th	01May04	15Jul04

EMPLOYMENT	India	Pakistan/Bangladesh
1st	Current	Current
2nd	22Apr09	Current
3rd	01Jul05	Current
Other	01Jul05	Current
4th	Current	Current
5th	Current	Current1B