UPDATE: As of September 29, 2020, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in Immigration Legal Resource Center et al., v. Wolf, et al., 20-cv-05883-JWS, preliminarily enjoined DHS from implementing or enforcing any part of the Fee Increase. This means that the fee rule will not go into effect on October 2, 2020: neither the fee increases nor the changes to fee waivers in the rule will be implemented at this time.

On July 30th, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published its new, fee schedule for immigration applications. The new fee schedule goes into effect on October 2nd, 2020. Applications filed before October 2nd, follow the old/ current fee schedule.  While a few types of filing fees are going down (such as the filing for a green card renewal, the I-90 form, is decreasing from $455 to $415) the cost of most immigration petitions is going up, and the fee waiver option has been eliminated for most applicants. The fee for a naturalization/ U.S. citizenship application will increase from its current $725 to  $1,160 or $1170 (depending on whether or not one files online via the USCIS portal) (biometrics included) on October 2, 2020. In addition, USCIS also announced that it will eliminate the fee waiver for naturalization with very few exceptions, along with the reduced fee option. More information about the fee increases can be found here.  If you have questions about these fee changes, please call the APALRC multilingual helpline at: 202-393-3572.  If you want the APALRC’s assistance applying for naturalization/ citizenship, please register here.

In response to COVID-19, USCIS has announced that seeking medical assistance for preventative care or medical assistance will not negatively impact an applicant’s public charge analysis. If you feel sick, please take care of yourself and go seek medical treatment as necessary. For further information please see: https://www.uscis.gov/greencard/public-charge. If you live in Washington DC, please see here for more information about medical assistance you might be eligible for: https://www.dchealthlink.com/coronavirus

In response to COVID-19, USCIS has also announced that all in-person services have been suspended. This includes appointments at field offices as well as Application Support Centers. If you have an immigration interview or biometrics appointment between now and April 1, please do NOT go to your appointment. Your appointment will be rescheduled after in-person services resume. Please check this website for updates about USCIS office closures and re-openings: https://www.uscis.gov/

If you believe that you have been discriminated against or a target of hate crime as a result of COVID-19, please call the APALRC helpline. More information is available at AAJC here:  https://advancingjustice-aajc.org/report/stand-against-hatred

Tanggapan Pemerintah U.S.A. terhadap COVID-19

Menanggapi COVID-19, Kantor U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) telah mengumumkan bahwa menggunakan bantuan medis (seperti Medicaid) untuk perawatan, pencegahan, atau bantuan lain terkait dengan COVID-19 tidak akan berdampak negatif pada analisis “Public Charge” (Beban Publik).  Jika Anda merasa sakit, tolong rawat diri Anda sendiri dan pergi mencari perawatan medis yang diperlukan. Untuk informasi lebih lanjut silakan lihat: https://www.uscis.gov/greencard/public-charge. Jika Anda tinggal di Washington DC, silakan lihat di website ini untuk informasi lebih lanjut tentang bantuan medis yang Anda mungkin bisa mendapat: https://www.dchealthlink.com/coronavirus

Menanggapi COVID-19, USCIS juga telah mengumumkan bahwa semua layanan publik langsung, seperti janji sidik jari, wawancara imigrasi, dan layanan pribadi lainnya ditunda hingga setidaknya 1 April. Jika Anda memiliki wawancara imigrasi atau janji temu biometrik antara sekarang dan 1 April, JANGAN pergi ke janji temu Anda. Janji temu Anda akan dijadwal ulang setelah layanan in-person dilanjutkan. Silakan periksa website USCIS untuk pembaruan lebih lanjut:  https://www.uscis.gov/

In response to the recommendations to engage in “social distancing,” effective Monday, March 16, 2020, the Asian Pacific American Legal Resource Center (APALRC) will be closed to the public.  The APALRC will also be suspending our in-person walk-in intake hours at our office in downtown DC and at our community-based partner agencies in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia.  The APALRC will continue to provide support to the community through our Multilingual Legal Helpline.

Multilingual Legal Helpline: 202-393-3572

Chinese ext. 18

South Asian ext. 19

Vietnamese ext. 20

Korean ext. 21

English ext. 22

We apologize for any inconvenience that this closure may cause.  Thank you for your patience and consideration.

After a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court on January 27, 2020, the Department of Homeland Security will soon be able to implement their new rule relating to the “public charge” ground of inadmissibility. DHS announced that the rule will go into effect on Monday, February 24, 2020. 

**Adjustment of Status (green card) applications postmarked before February 24, 2020 will be adjudicated under policies in place before the new rule.** 

The new public charge rule does not apply to people applying for naturalization/ U.S. citizenship.  The new public charge rule does not apply to people who already have a green card; but, those who have a green card should be extra careful not to travel outside the U.S. for more than 6 months at one time.

Please do not withdraw yourself or your family members from any public benefits (such as Medicaid and Food Stamps) without first consulting with a knowledgeable immigration lawyer regarding whether or not the public charge rule applies to you. The APALRC can provide free consultations on the public charge rule change. Please call our helpline at (202) 393-3572.

For more information, please see: https://protectingimmigrantfamilies.org/know-your-rights/

Useful tool for all states: http://www.keepyourbenefitsca.org