On February 14, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it was expanding its acceptance of credit cards for processing fees.
USCIS already accepts credit cards for the two forms where it permits online filing: the N-400 Application for Naturalization and the I-90 Application to Replace Permanent Resident Card (used to renew expiring ten-year cards or replace lost or stolen cards).
This announcement brings the option to pay by card to 41 different forms currently requiring fees which are filed to centralized lockbox facilities. These are generally operated by contractors rather than government officers, although they are supervised by the Office of Intake and Document Production.
Rather than offering a facility to pay online and print a scannable receipt, the new system requires completion of the new paper Form G-1450, Authorization for Credit Card Transaction. This form requires all of the typical information needed for processing on a single sheet of paper: name, billing address, card type, card number, expiration date, phone and e-mail – though interestingly, not the three-digit CID code normally on the back of a card – and the amount to be charged.
USCIS indicates that for security purposes, these forms will be destroyed once the information is entered and the card is processed through the US Treasury’s Pay.gov system. Petitions would be rejected and returned unfiled if the payment doesn’t go through, just as they would be now for missing or incorrect checks.
While we may in the future recommend this option, until we are confident that this system works we’ll remain hesitant to use this option.
The forms involved in the announcement can be found here and include many of the most commonly used forms such as the I-129 and I-539 used for most nonimmigrant visas, I-130 and I-140 immigrant petitions, and the I-485 Application to Adjust Status among many others.