US Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) announced earlier this month a proposed rule to adjust the fee schedule by a weighted average increase of twenty-one percent. In making the announcement, USCIS noted that unlike most government agencies, USCIS is fee-funded and claims the current fees if left unchanged would underfund the agency by approximately $1.3 billion per year. “USCIS is required to examine incoming and outgoing expenditures, just like a business, and make adjustments based on that analysis,” Ken Cuccinelli, acting director of USCIS, said in a statement. “This proposed adjustment in fees would ensure more applicants cover the true cost of their applications and minimizes subsidies from an already over-extended system.”