Immigration and Naturalization Service Collection of Fees at Air Ports of Entry

Report No. 02-42
September 2002
Office of the Inspector General

The 1989 Department of Justice Appropriation Act, Public Law 100-459, established the Immigration Examinations Fee Account. This account contains revenues from the fees the INS collects for processing various types of applications and petitions for immigration benefits.

Audit reports issued by the General Accounting Office and the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) as early as fiscal year 1991 found weaknesses in the INS's fee collections. In February 2000, the OIG issued INS Collection of Fees at Land Border Ports of Entry, Report Number 00-05, which identified serious control weaknesses in the collection of fees at land border POEs. In response, in July 2000 the INS issued new fee collection procedures applicable to all POEs (air, land, and sea).

During a visit to the INS's Debt Management Center² in Williston, Vermont, we learned that many air POEs used manual (handwritten) receipts for fee collections rather than the cash registers we found at the land border POEs.

Our objectives for this audit were to determine whether the controls in place over the fee collection process were adequate at air POEs to ensure that:

• the fees collected were properly accounted for and deposited timely, and
• selected statistics related to fee collections could be reconciled with deposits made.

During our audit, we requested that the INS provide a universe of airports and related fee collections. However, INS management provided a listing of only 14 airports collecting fees. Because much of the airport fee data was commingled with the district offices' fee collections, there was no way to extrapolate any data that would generate an accurate estimate or the total amount collected. Therefore, from listings of international airports maintained by the Federal Aviation Administration, the U.S. Customs Service, and the INS, we identified at least 185 air POEs where the INS might collect fees.

From that list of 185 airports, we judgmentally selected the following eight major airports to review: John F. Kennedy International (JFK), New York, New York; Hartsfield International, Atlanta, Georgia; Miami International, Miami, Florida; O'Hare International, Chicago, Illinois; Detroit Metropolitan, Detroit, Michigan; Los Angeles International, Los Angeles, California; San Francisco International, San Francisco, California; and Pearson International, Toronto, Canada.³ Fieldwork was conducted during July and August 2001.

Air POEs collect fees, usually in the form of cash, primarily for processing Form I-193, Application for Waiver of Passport and/or Visa.⁴ The fee for one person is $170. Other applications that were processed at the air POEs in our sample were:

• Trade NAFTA applications. Certain aliens are admitted into the U.S. for employment in specialized professions. The fee is $50.
• FD-258, Applicant Fingerprint Card. A card used to obtain an alien's fingerprints. The fee is $25.
• Form I-68, Application for Canadian Border Boat Landing Permit. The fee is $16 for an individual permit and $32 for a family permit.
• Form I-90, Application to Replace Alien Registration Card. Aliens that lose their Permanent Resident Card may obtain a replacement card using the Form I-90. The fee is $110.
• Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker. A petition filed by a petitioner to hire an alien as a temporary worker. The fee is $110.
• Form I-131, Application for a Travel Document. An application for a re-entry permit, refugee travel document, or advance parole document. In Miami, the form was used to allow entry of inadmissible aliens into the U.S. for emergency medical treatment. The fee is $95.
• Form I-192, Application for Advance Permission to Enter as a Nonimmigrant. The fee is $170.
• Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization. An application for employment used by applicants awaiting approval of their claim for asylum. The fee is $100.

The eight air POEs we reviewed deposited approximately $2.5 million into the Examinations Fee Account during the period of October 1, 2000, through June 30, 2001, as shown in the table below.

Deposits by POE
Airport	Deposits October 1, 2000 Through June 30, 2001
Atlanta	$96,250
Chicago	88,084
Detroit	44,335
JFK	229,750
Los Angeles	328,930
Miami	731,962
San Francisco	103,575
Toronto	833,750
Total	$2,456,636
Source: Deposit data maintained by the POEs.

2. INS field offices normally submit deposit information to the Debt Management Center. Some suboffices and POEs route their deposits through a larger field office or a district office.
3. The INS conducts preclearance operations at Pearson International Airport in Toronto, Canada. Preclearance is the full inspection at foreign ports of U.S.-bound travelers and their luggage for immigration, customs, public health, and agriculture purposes.
4. Aliens arriving in the United States with an expired visa, passport, or Permanent Resident Card or without a Permanent Resident Card or valid reentry permit may obtain entry into the U.S. by applying for a waiver and showing good cause.

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