INS Immigration User Fee Review

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Immigration and Naturalization Service

[INS No. 1846-97]

RIN 1115-AD06

INS Immigration User Fee Review

agency: Immigration and Naturalization Service, Justice.

action: Bi-yearly Notice of User Fee Account Status.

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summary: The Attorney General is required to submit a report to the

Congress concerning the status of the Immigration User Fee Account

(IUFA), and to recommend any adjustment in the prescribed fee. The

report is to be submitted to the Congress following a public notice

with the opportunity for comment. This notice accordingly publishes the

status of the IUFA as of September 30, 1996, and presents an

opportunity for the public to comment and propose regulatory changes.

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dates: Written comments must be received on or before July 14, 1997.

addresses: Please submit written comments, in triplicate, to Director,

Policy Directives and Instructions Branch, Immigration and

Naturalization Service (INS), Room 5307, 425 I Street NW., Washington,

DC 20536-0002. To ensure proper handling, please reference INS No.

1846-97 on your correspondence.

for further information contact: Michael T. Natchuras, Chief, Fee

Policy and Rate Setting Branch, Office of Budget, Immigration and

Naturalization Service, 425 I Street NW., Room 6240, Washington, DC

20536-0002, telephone (202) 616-2754.

supplementary information: Section 286(d) of the Immigration and

Nationality Act (Act) specifies that, as of December 1, 1986, the

Attorney General shall collect a fee per individual for the immigration

inspection of each passenger arriving at a port-of-entry in the United

States aboard a commercial aircraft or commercial vessel, or for the

pre-inspection of a passenger at a location outside the United States

prior to such arrival. Passengers arriving from Canada, Mexico, the

adjacent islands and territories, and possessions of the United States

by means other than aircraft, are exempt from the fee. Also exempt from

the fee are persons who meet provisions delineated in 8 CFR 286.3 The

1994 Appropriations Act for the Department of Justice, P.L. 103-121,

raised the IUFA fee from $5.00 to $6.00 per passenger inspected.

The fees deposited in the IUFA are used to reimburse the INS'

Salaries and Expense (S&E) Appropriated Account for expenses incurred

in: (1) Providing inspection and pre-inspection services for commercial

aircraft and sea vessels; (2) detaining and deporting inadmissable

aliens arriving on commercial aircraft and sea vessels; (3) providing

exclusion and asylum proceedings at air and sea ports-of-entry for

inadmissable aliens arriving on commercial aircraft or sea vessels; (4)

funding the detention and deportation, removal and asylum costs for

aliens seeking to illegally enter the country by avoiding inspection at

air and sea ports-of-entry; (5) administering debt recovery; (6)

establishing and operating a national collections office; (7)

expanding, operating, and improving information systems for

nonimmigrant control and debt collection; and (8) detecting fraudulent

documents presented by passengers traveling into the United States.

Section 286(h) of the Act requires the Attorney General to submit a

bi-yearly report to Congress concerning the status of the IUFA. This

report assesses whether an adjustment in the prescribed inspection fee

is required to ensure that receipts collected under the IUFA for the

succeeding 2 years equal, as closely as possible, the cost of providing

the services listed above. Before this report is submitted, the

Attorney General must present a summary of the IUFA's status for review

and public comment.

As of September 30, 1996, the status of the IUFA was as follows:

IUFA Financial Summary ($000)

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Fiscal year Fiscal year Fiscal year

1995 actual 1996 actual 1997 estimate

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Start of year balance........................................... $40,368 $43,109 $80,080

Collections*.................................................... 303,475 351,622 359,389

Obligations..................................................... 303,409 317,470 376,964

Recovery of prior year obligations.............................. 2,675 2,819 ..............

End of year balance............................................. $43,109 $80,080 $62,505

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* Includes passenger fees, inspector overtime billings, liquidated damages, and one-third of Sec. 271 and Sec.

271 enforcement fines as prescribed by law.

Collections: Collections totaled $303.5 million for FY 1995 and

$351.6 million for FY 1996, marking a 16 percent increase of FY 1996

collections over FY 1995 collections. Collections for FY 1997 are

projected to be $359.4 million, which is 2 percent higher than

collections realized in FY 1996.

Obligations: The United States Government records orders for goods

and/or services which require payment as ``obligations.'' More

specifically, Office of Management and Budget Circular A-34,

Instructions on Budget Execution, defines obligations as purchase

orders placed, contracts awarded, and services received by a Federal

agency which require it to make cash outlays during the same or future

periods. Obligations incurred by the IUFA during FY 1996 totaled $317.5

million, representing a 5 percent increase over FY 1995. Obligations

for FY 1997 are estimated at almost $377 million, which is

approximately 19 percent over the spending level for FY 1996. Five

factors contribute to the increase in FY 1997 obligations: (1) Staffing

increases from 2,426 authorized inspectors in FY 1996 to 2,624

authorized inspectors in FY 1997; (2) systems infrastructure

enhancements, such as expanding automation and providing for improved

data and communications networks; (3) opening a new contract detention

facility; (4) implementing a departure management pilot; (5) initiating

a shared database initiative with the State Department; and (6) the

automation of the Service's I-94, Arrival/Departure Record.

End-of-Year Balances: The increase in the FY 1996 balance over the

1995 balance resulted from the following factors: (1) Collections from

two major carriers projected to be received in the first month of FY

1997 were actually received in the last month of FY 1996, resulting in

an overstatement of collections for FY 1996; (2) the annual volume of

international air travel, which is the primary catalyst and determinant

of fee collections, exceeded expectations; (3) program spending for FY

1996 was lower than planned levels; and finally, (4) a large volume of

fourth quarter receipts due by the close of FY 1995 were not actually

received until FY 1996 which resulted in the collection of more than

four quarters' worth of fees in FY 1996.

Program Highlights: An important mission of the INS is to control

the borders of the United States. The INS inspects persons seeking to

enter the United States at air and sea ports-of-entry to determine

admissibility. The following discussion presents major program

highlights of the IUFA. Three program activities--Inspections,

Detention and Deportation, and Data and Communications--comprise almost

90 percent of the total operations of the IUFA for FY 1997.

Inspections, the largest program, is allocated $233.5 million for

FY 1997, which is approximately 60 percent of total IUFA resources. The

function of

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this program is to enforce and administer immigration and nationality

laws with respect to the inspection of all persons seeking admission

into the United States at air and sea ports-of-entry. Applicants for

admission are inspected to determine if they qualify for admission and,

if so, under what conditions. This process is a cooperative partnership

among the Department of State, U.S. Customs Service, the Department of

Agriculture, and local port authorities. Determination of admissibility

is based on the examination of the applicant, relevant documents, or

prior information. Inadmissible aliens are denied entry. A total of 75

million passengers were inspected at air and sea ports-of-entry and

pre-inspection sites during FY 1996.

Due to the increasing volume of passengers, INS has dedicated

itself to improving the efficiency and effectiveness of its inspections

processes. Currently, there are 2,426 authorized inspector positions

worldwide. Inspections are located at 112 ports-of-entry and 12 pre-

inspection sites. For FY 1997, Congress approved staffing plans for 198

additional inspectors who will be stationed at ports and pre-inspection

sites to improve the efficiency of its inspections processes.

Detention and Deportation, the second largest program, is allocated

$73.5 million for FY 1997, representing approximately 20 percent of

total IUFA resources. Functions of this program include detaining,

removing, paroling, and deporting aliens. Currently, a total of 154

detention and deportation officers are authorized to be stationed at

detention facilities near major air and sea ports-of-entry. In

addition, 1,542 bed spaces are funded and housed at these facilities to

detain, until removal, those aliens subject to inadmissibility

proceedings who are likely to abscond, or whose freedom at-large could

pose risk or danger to public safety and security.

The third largest program, Data and Communications, is allocated

$36.9 million for FY 1997 and comprises approximately 10 percent of

total IUFA resources. This program supports program initiatives through

infrastructure enhancements, automation, and innovation. Infrastructure

enhancements include deploying new computer equipment, developing

interfaces among existing INS information systems, and acquiring new

management information systems.

One innovation being implemented in Data and Communications is the

Advance Passenger Information System (APIS) which saves time in

performing inspections by enlisting carriers to collect biographical

information on passengers before departing. The collected information

is then electronically transmitted to the INS and checked against

criminal lookout databases before the carrier arrives at its intended

port. Over 20 million passengers were processed using APIS during FY

1996.

Another innovation is the INS Passenger Accelerated Services System

(INSPASS). This system expedites the inspection of frequent business

travelers using biometric information such as hand geometry. Passengers

also must insert their INSPASS card into a machine that compares data

magnetically stored on the card to the biometric information. Passenger

information is checked against criminal lookout databases before entry

into the United States is permitted. Nearly 50,000 INSPASS inspections

were performed in FY 1996 and the INS expects to expand this program to

six additional sites in FY 1997.

Proposed Exemption Removal: The INS is proposing the removal of the

current fee exemption for commercial vessel passengers (cruise line

passengers) arriving from Canada, Mexico, the adjacent islands and

territories, and possessions of the United States. This legislative

proposal was submitted to the Congress as part of INS' FY 1998 Budget

Request. Currently, the costs of performing inspections and other user

fee activities for fee-exempt passengers must be absorbed by the

program. The fee is proposed to be established for currently exempt

cruise line passengers on October 1, 1997.

By this notice, the public may provide any proposals to revise 8

CFR 286 on matters that may be changed by regulation, and may provide

comments on the status of the IUFA before a report is submitted to the

Congress.

Dated: April 18, 1997.

Doris Meissner,

Commissioner, Immigration and Naturalization Service.

[FR Doc. 97-12545 Filed 5-13-97; 8:45 am]

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