I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 5319 
To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to provide for certain fee 
waivers, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 21, 2021 
Mrs. TORRES of California (for herself, Ms. MENG, Mr. TAKANO, Ms. NOR-
TON, Ms. CHU, Mr. JONES, Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Mr. 
CA´RDENAS, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York, 
Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ, Mr. GOMEZ, Mr. SOTO, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Mr. 
VARGAS, and Mr. GARCI´A of Illinois) introduced the following bill; which 
was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to provide 
for certain fee waivers, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Reduce Financial Bar-
riers to Immigration and Citizenship Act of 2021’’. 
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SEC. 2. LIMITATION ON USE OF FEES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 286 of the Immigration 
and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1356) is amended by strik-
ing subsection (m) and inserting the following: 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 
provisions of law, all adjudication fees shall be de-
posited as offsetting receipts into a separate account 
entitled ‘Immigration Examinations Fee Account’ in 
the Treasury of the United States, whether collected 
directly by the Attorney General, Secretary of 
Homeland Security: Provided, however, That all fees 
received by the Attorney General from applicants re-
siding in the Virgin Islands of the United States, 
and in Guam, under this subsection shall be paid 
over to the treasury of the Virgin Islands and to the 
treasury of Guam.’’. 
(b) LIMITATION ON TRANSFER OF FEES.—Section 
286(n) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 
19 1356(n)) is amended by striking the period at the end 
and inserting: ‘‘. Provided, however, That funds within the 
‘Immigration Examinations Fee Account’ shall be used by 
the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, or a suc-
cessor agency to which its duties are transferred, to solely 
to fund the adjudication and administration of immigra-
tion benefits and naturalization.’’. 
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SEC. 3. REQUIRED FEE WAIVERS FOR CERTAIN APPLICA-
TIONS AND PETITIONS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 286 of the Immigration 
and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1356) is amended by add-
ing at the end of subsection (m) the following: 
‘‘(3) FEES.—That fees for providing adjudica-
tion and naturalization services described in para-
graph (2) may be set at a level that will ensure re-
covery of the costs of providing all such services, in-
cluding the costs of similar services provided without 
charge to applicants described in paragraphs (4) and 
(5). Such fees may also be set at a level that will 
recover any additional costs associated with the ad-
ministration of the fees collected. 
‘‘(4) PROHIBITIONS.—The Secretary of Home-
land Security may not impose a fee with respect to 
the filing of the following immigration application or 
petitions (and any associated applications, petitions, 
information collections or appeals)— 
‘‘(A) an application for asylum and related 
relief; 
‘‘(B) an application or petition filed for 
refugee status; 
‘‘(C) a petition for status as a special im-
migrant juvenile and any subsequent applica-
tions filed by a special immigrant juvenile; 
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‘‘(D) a petition for U non-immigrant sta-
tus under section 101(a)(15)(U)(ii)(I), and re-
lated applications, including advance parole, 
employment authorization, derivative petitions 
adjustment of status, and waivers; 
‘‘(E) a self-petition filed by a spouse, child 
or parent of an abusive U.S. citizen under 
VAWA, and applications filed by those with ap-
proved self petitions under VAWA; 
‘‘(F) an application for T non-immigrant 
status under section 101(a)(15)(T); 
‘‘(G) a petition for a special immigrant 
visa for an individual who is an Afghan or Iraqi 
national and was or is employed by or on behalf 
of the United States Government; 
‘‘(H) an application for a fee waiver pursu-
ant to paragraph (5) of this section; and 
‘‘(I) any other petition or application the 
Secretary determines to be in the public inter-
est. 
‘‘(5) FEE WAIVER BASED ON AN INABILITY TO 
PAY.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—The Secretary of 
Homeland Security shall waive fees with respect 
to the filing of an immigration application or 
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petition (and any associated application, peti-
tion, information collection and appeal) for an 
alien who demonstrates to the satisfaction of 
the Secretary that such alien— 
‘‘(i) is the recipient of a means-tested 
benefit where the Federal, State, or local 
agency administering such public benefit 
considers the income and resources of the 
individual in granting such benefit; 
‘‘(ii) has an income is no greater than 
250 percent of the Federal poverty guide-
lines; or 
‘‘(iii) faces extraordinary financial 
hardship that prevents them from paying 
the filing fee. 
‘‘(B) CORRECTIVE
FILING.—If the Sec-
retary finds that an applicant is ineligible for a 
fee waiver under this subparagraph, the Sec-
retary shall notify applicants of the basis for 
such ineligibility, and allow applicants 90 days 
from the date on which the Secretary provides 
such notice to submit additional evidence of eli-
gibility. Such applicant shall retain the original 
filing date of the application or petition associ-
ated with the fee waiver. 
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‘‘(C) EXCEPTIONS.—This section shall not 
apply to petitions seeking classification under 
section 
203(b)(1)(A)–(C), 
(b)(2)(A)–(C), 
(b)(3)(A)–(C), and (b)(5)(A)–(D) of this Act or 
petitions filed by employers pursuant to section 
214(C) of this Act. 
‘‘(D) FEDERAL
POVERTY
GUIDELINES.— 
The term ‘Federal poverty guidelines’ has the 
meaning given such term by the Director of the 
Office of Management and Budget, as revised 
annually by the 18 Secretary of Health and 
Human Services in accordance with section 
673(2) of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation 
Act of 1981 (42 U.S.C. 9902(2)). 
‘‘(E) PUBLIC CHARGE.— 
‘‘(i) FINDING OF PUBLIC CHARGE.— 
Receipt of an application for a fee waiver 
under this section shall not be considered 
in a public charge determination pursuant 
to section 212(a)(4) or section 237(a)(5). 
‘‘(ii) SPONSORS.—Receipt of or appli-
cation for a fee waiver by the sponsor of 
an immigration petition shall not be con-
sidered as a factor in consideration of an 
affidavit of support filed by the sponsor.’’. 
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(b) BACKLOG REDUCTION.—There is authorized to 
be appropriated $500,000,000 to U.S. Citizenship and Im-
migration Services in order to streamline processing of ap-
plications or petitions granted a fee waiver. 
SEC. 4. STUDY AND REPORTS ON FEE INCREASES. 
(a) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 60 days 
prior to a notice of proposed rulemaking with respect to 
an increase in fees for an application for an immigration 
petition or benefit, the Secretary of Homeland Security 
shall submit a report to Congress including— 
(1) evidence that U.S. Citizenship and Immi-
gration Services has engaged in cost-cutting meas-
ures prior to an increase in such fees; 
(2) evidence that the decision to increase fees 
shall not negatively affect the economic and social 
benefits of immigration; and 
(3) the balance of the Immigration Examina-
tions Fee account under section 286(m) of the Im-
migration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1356(m)), 
any restrictions on the expenditure of funds therein, 
projections of future incoming revenue, and the in-
formation and methods used to produce each of 
these calculations. 
(b) GAO STUDY AND REPORT.—Not later than 180 
days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 
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