Final Rule on EVP Fees Effective December 3, 2007

The final rule implementing new and increased fees for Exchange Visitor Program services is effective December 3, 2007.

Practice note: A December 3, 2007 DOS notice clarified how the effective date works:

For all benefits covered by the new fees:

"Any application post-marked on or after December 3, 2007, is subject to the required fee. All fees are to be paid through Pay.gov. A complete application consists of the application/request, justification and supporting documentation (if applicable) and confirmation of payment in Pay.gov."

Special rule for applications for redesignation:

"If the Department receives a sponsor’s application for redesignation post-marked prior to December 3, 2007, and the program expiration date is prior to April 3, 2008, no fee is required. If an application is received prior to December 3, 2007, and the program expiration date is on or after April 3, 2008, the redesignation fee is required."

Reminder: Programs must apply for redesignation every two years. Six months before a program's designation expires, the "6 months before end of program's designation length" Alert will appear on the program's alert list in SEVIS RTI. A similar alert appears three months before the program's designation expiration. The redesignation Alert does not contain a hyperlink, so programs must initiate the redesignation procedure by clicking the Redesignation link on the Program Sponsor Information screen. After submitting the redesignaton request in SEVIS, the sponsor must print Form DS-3036, properly sign and notarize it, and then mail it to DOS.

Background

The Department of State published a final rule on November 1, 2007, with an effective date of December 3, 2007. The rule affects the fees and charges for Exchange Visitor Program services, but does not affect fees charged by the separate Waiver Review Division.

The rule has the following impact:

1. It more than doubles the fee for program designation, from $799 to $1,748.
2. It applies the $1,748 fee to applications for redesignation, whereas prior redesignations filed before December 3, 2007 were processed with no fee.
3. It raises the fee by $48 for extensions beyond the maximum duration, for change of category, and for reinstatement and reinstatement-update SEVIS status requests, from $198 to $246.
4. It applies a new fee of $246 for "ECFMG sponsorship authorization, and permission to issue." It is not clear from the sparse wording of the rule in what circumstances this new fee will be applied.
5. It eliminates the $43 fee for a rush request for IAP-66 Forms (most likely because that fee was made obsolete given that quantities of Forms DS-2019 are set electronically in SEVIS; however, it is not clear whether the rule's "permission to issue" fee would be for a similar request for DS-2019 numbers).

Effective December 3, 2007, prior section 62.90 of 22 CFR is removed, and is replaced with a new section 62.17 that sets the following fees.

"For filing an application for program designation and/or redesignation (Form DS-3036)"	$1,748
"For filing an application for exchange visitor status changes (i.e., extension beyond the maximum duration, change of category, reinstatement, reinstatement-update SEVIS status, ECFMG sponsorship authorization, and permission to issue)"	$246

For reference, the fees for services prior to December 3, 2007 are:

Request for program extension	$198
Request for change of program category	$198
Request for reinstatement	$198
Request for program designation	$799
Request for program redesignation	$0
Request for non-routine handling of an IAP-66 Form Request	$43