Earlier this week, a federal judge blocked USCIS from increasing its  filing fees, which were scheduled to take effect today, October 2.  The judge found possible procedural and substantive violations under the Administrative Procedures Act, and defects in the way the Acting Secretaries for the Department of Homeland Security at the time had been appointed, the combination of which made him decide to temporarily block the proposed fee increases until these issues could be thoroughly addressed.   USCIS had previously announced that it would increase most of its government filing fees effective October 2, 2020, due to budgetary shortfalls (see our previous blog post on the announcement). A copy of the decision can be found here.

USCIS expressed surprise at the judge’s decision and criticized it “as harmful to the American people.”

Under the temporary stay of the fee increase, USCIS also will not require that the latest edition of several forms be used moving forward. 

We will continue to monitor the situation and provide updates as soon as we have more information.

This alert is for informational purposes only.  Please contact me if you would like to discuss this development further.