From: Brenda Leyndyke <President(a)mimgc.org>
Date: December 9, 2019 at 11:22:28 AM EST
To: Jan Cortez <janacortez(a)charter.net>
Subject: IMPORTANT U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Proposed Fee
Increases
Reply-To: Brenda Leyndyke <President(a)mimgc.org>
Dear Jan,
Many of you may have heard about the nearly 500% proposed fee increase that the USCIS
wants to impose on record searches and records provided through its Genealogy Program and
other Immigration records. This increase is unacceptable to the genealogical community. I
am asking you to share this email with your members and encourage them to write an email
or letter in opposition to this fee increase.
All correspondence, either online or mail, must be identified by DHS Docket No. USCIS–
2019–0010
The USCIS is required to review these public comments before it makes it final
determination on the fee increase. We as genealogists can have an impact if enough of you
submit your comments. You can contact USCIS directly at:
Online
http://www.regulations.gov , be sure to mention the genealogy program.
by mail to Samantha Deshommes, Chief, Regulatory Coordination Division, Office of Policy
and Strategy, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Department of Homeland Security,
20 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Mailstop #2140, Washington, DC 20529–2140.
The deadline for submissions has been extended to Dec 30, 2019. Don’t let the holiday
season pass by without sending your comments.
To read the proposed changes,
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2019-11-14/pdf/2019-24366.pdf The Genealogy section
is Section N which starts on page 62315-62316. See Section 103.40 for Genealogical
Research Requests on page 62359.
Many members of the genealogical community have written on this issue far better than I
can. For more more information, see:
Read the changes as it pertains to the Genealogy Program here:
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/11/14/2019-24366/us-citize...
Records, not revenue by Judy G. Russell, The Legal Genealogist at
https://www.legalgenealogist.com/2019/11/21/records-not-revenue/
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Proposed Fee Increases, Board for
Certification of Genealogists by LaBrenda Garrett-Nelson at
https://bcgcertification.org/uscis-fee-incr-2019/
USCIS Proposes Fee Increases for Genealogy Records, by Dick Eastman at
https://blog.eogn.com/2019/11/15/uscis-proposes-fee-increases-for-genealo... and
More on USCIS Proposes Fee Increases for Genealogy Records, by Dick Eastman
https://blog.eogn.com/2019/11/21/more-on-uscis-proposes-fee-increases-for...
I hope you will see the benefits of commenting on these fee increases. It not only
affects us as researchers who want affordable access to these resources, but it affects
our fellow members who generate these records -immigrants - those seeking Resident Alien
cards (Green Cards) and those seeking naturalization.
Thank you for considering this important records access issue. I hope you have a blessed
holiday season.
Sincerely,
Brenda Leyndyke, President
Michigan Genealogical Council