Biden administration will waive immigration application fees for thousands of evacuated Afghans
The Biden administration is planning to waive immigration-related fees for up to 70,000 Afghan evacuees as they are resettled in the United States, the Department of Homeland Security said Monday.
The administration will now exempt Afghan evacuees – many of whom arrived in the United States with little to nothing – from paying costly application fees to get authorization to work or apply for lawful permanent residence.
The filing fee for work permit applications – which Afghans need to legally work in the US – is $410 and fees for obtaining lawful permanent residence can be up to $1,225.
“By providing these evacuees with access to streamlined processing and fee exemptions, we will open doors of opportunity for our Afghan allies and help them begin to rebuild their lives in communities across our country more quickly,” Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement.
Afghans who were paroled into the US on or after July 30 are eligible for the fee exemptions, according to DHS.
Source: CNN
