Comment on the fairness of charging the same fee for a Motion to Reopen and a Motion to Reconsider submitted by Jim A. Bach, Attorney at Law, Law Office of James Bach

It does not seem fair to charge the same fee for a Motion to Reopen and a Motion to Reconsider. The Motion to Reconsider alleges an incorrect application of law to the facts presented, i.e., USCIS error. Often, poorly trained adjudicators make egregious errors in interpreting governing law and regulations, or do not properly consider the evidence presented. Often evidence submitted does not get matched up to the file. In those cases, the applicant must spend additional legal fees and other resources to correct USCIS error. It adds insult to injury (or further injury to injury) to require the applicant to PAY to correct the USCIS error. Also, the burden to the USCIS in reconsidering the record and the application of the law appears to be significantly less than the Motion to Reopen situation, where the applicant seeks to ADD evidence to the record.I therefore propose that the Motion to Reconsider fee remain the same (or even be reduced), while raising the Motion to Reopen fee. If the applicant seeks both (that is, alleges error and also seeks to add evidence to the record) then the higher Motion to Reopen fee should be charged.Regards,Jim Bach Law Offices of James A. BachShell Building, 100 Bush StreetSuite 1980San Francisco, CA 94104-3902Telephone: (415) 248-3100Fax: (415) 248-3105Website: immilaw.com Law Offices of James A. Bach This comment is included entirely within this index record. There is no PDF.