Supplementary Explanation from 1615-0118

Supporting Information for Change Request to OMB for Control Number 1615-0118

OMB Control Number 1615-0118 is currently approved for the USCIS Intake Page for Pay.gov for payments the following fees: Immigration Visa DHS Domestic Processing Fee (USCIS Immigrant Fee), Civil Surgeon Designation Application Fee, and Overseas Biometric Processing Fee. The USCIS Immigrant Fee will now be collected through OMB Control Number 1615-0122 and USCIS has requested, through a change request to OMB, for a transfer of the burden from OMB Control Number 1615-0118 to Control Number 1615-0122. The remaining respondents (21 ,200) and the associated burden (3, 186 hours) do not have their fees collected via the US CIS Intake Page for Pay .gov, OMB Control Number 1615-0118; all fees other than the US CIS Immigrant Fee will be collected via instructions for each form. USCIS requests that upon the approval of the change request for the USCIS Immigrant Fee collection, OMB discontinue OMB collection 1615-0118 and the remaining burden. USCIS currently has approval to collect three fees via the USCIS Intake Page on Pay.gov, OMB Control Number 1615-0118; the Immigrant Visa DHS Domestic Processing Fee (USCIS Immigrant Fee), Overseas Biometrics Fee, and the Civil Surgeon Designation Application Fee. The current approval is for minimal information necessary to identify the respondent and, upon providing this information; the respondent is then redirected to the Department of Treasury system to provide payment details using Pay.gov. Through the USCIS Intake Page on Pay.gov, USCIS is currently collecting fee payments for the USCIS Immigrant Fee and the other two fees, previously approved to be collected in this manner, are not being collected. USCIS was not able to implement the collection of the other two fees via the Pay.gov process due to multiple operational issues. As a result of USCIS moving forward with automation of its information collection capabilities, the agency has developed the ability to collect this minimal information for the USCIS Immigrant Fee through the Automated Integrated Operating Environment (IOE), OMB Control Number 1615-0122 (also known as the Electronic Immigration System, or ELlS). The experience will be similar with the difference being that the formerly required fee-type selection eliminated now that only one fee is available for collection. US CIS is requesting that the respondents and associated burden for the USCIS Immigrant Fee as stated above in the charted detail be transferred to OMB Control Number 1615-0122 and removed from 1615-0118. Also, USCIS is requesting that the remaining respondents and associated burden for the other two fee filers currently listed in 1615-0118, consisting of 21 ,000 filers and a total estimated annual burden of 3,186 hours be eliminated as those filers will be paying the fee following payment instructions in applicable forms as do all other filers of USCIS forms. USCIS also requests that OMB Control Number 1615-0118 be discontinued as there will be no future use of this intake process.