Reduce Financial Barriers to Immigration and Citizenship Act of 2021
Summary
Reduce Financial Barriers to Immigration and Citizenship Act of 2021 This bill prohibits the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from charging fees for certain immigration applications (or petitions), requires DHS to provide fee waivers to certain applicants, and addresses related issues. DHS may not impose fees for certain applications for or related to (1) asylum or refugee status, (2) special immigrant juvenile status, (3) U or T non-immigrant visas (victims of certain crimes such as human trafficking), (4) the Violence Against Women Act, (5) special immigrant status for Afghan or Iraqi nationals employed by the U.S. government, or (6) immigration-related fee waivers. DHS must also waive immigration-related application fees for an applicant who receives a means-tested benefit or meets certain conditions related to financial hardship. However, DHS is not required to provide fee waivers for applications for certain employment-based immigration benefits. Receipt of a fee waiver may not be used as a factor (1) for determining whether an alien should be considered a public charge, or (2) when considering an affidavit of support filed by a sponsor. The bill also requires all collected immigration-related adjudication fees to be used only to fund the adjudication and administration of immigration benefits and naturalization.
Bill status
in committee
1 of 4 stages cleared
Introduction
Sep 2021
Committee Review
Floor Vote
President
Introduced Sep 21, 2021
Last action Nov 1, 2022
Floor votes
How they voted
No floor votes recorded yet.
Full legislative history
Actions timeline
Total actions
3
Key actions
0
Committee
2
Nov 1, 2022
Committee
Referred to the Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship.
lower
Sep 21, 2021
Committee
Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
lower
Sep 21, 2021
Introduced
Introduced in House
lower
1 primary · 20 co-sponsors
Sponsors
Role
Legislator
Party
State
District
P
Norma J. Torres
DDemocratic
Co
Adriano Espaillat
DDemocratic
Co
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
DDemocratic
Co
Carolyn B. Maloney
DDemocratic
Co
Darren Soto
DDemocratic
Co
Dina Titus
DDemocratic
Co
Earl Blumenauer
DDemocratic
Co
Eleanor Holmes Norton
DDemocratic
Co
Grace Meng
DDemocratic
Co
James P. McGovern
DDemocratic
Co
Jesús G. "Chuy" García
DDemocratic
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