In response to a letter inquiry from New York attorney Alan Lee, Edward Skerrett, the Immigration and Naturalization Service’s Immigration Branch Chief, has stated that applicants applying for adjustment of status to permanent residency are subject to penalty fees each time an adjustment application is submitted (assuming, of course, the individual is subject to a penalty fee under the new Section 245(I) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (see Siskind’s Immigration Bulletin 10/94). In a nutshell, this ruling means that if an applicant for adjustment of status pays the penalty fee of 0 because he or she is or had been previously out of status and the application for adjustment is denied for any reason, then the applicant will have to pay an additional 0 penalty the next time an adjustment application is submitted. Mr. Skerrett did note, however, that if the fee is improperly collected as a result of fault or negligence by an INS employee, then the INS would refund the penalty fee.
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