U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is the government agency that oversees lawful immigration to the United States. USCIS is funded primarily by immigration and naturalization benefit fees charged to applicants and petitioners. Fees collected from individuals or organizations filing immigration benefit requests are deposited into the Immigration Examinations Fee Account (IEFA). Congress created the IEFA in 1988, establishing the authority to recover the full cost of immigration benefit processing. This account represents approximately 95 percent of USCIS’ fiscal year (FY) 2016 total budget authority. The remaining budget authority comes from two other mandatory fee accounts and appropriated funding for the E-Verify program.
The Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990 requires that USCIS conduct biennial fee reviews for the IEFA. USCIS last adjusted its fees in November 2010. Results of the FY 2016/2017 fee review indicated that fees should be adjusted by a weighted average increase of 21 percent to ensure full cost recovery. These include the costs associated with fraud detection and national security; customer service and case processing; and providing services without charge to refugee and asylum applicants and to other customers eligible for fee waivers or exemptions.