US Laws, Codes, Statutes & Cases

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[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
  January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 8USC1455]

 
                     TITLE 8--ALIENS AND NATIONALITY
 
                 CHAPTER 12--IMMIGRATION AND NATIONALITY
 
             SUBCHAPTER III--NATIONALITY AND NATURALIZATION
 
               Part II--Nationality Through Naturalization
 
Sec. 1455. Fiscal provisions

    (a) The Attorney General shall charge, collect, and account for fees 
prescribed by the Attorney General pursuant to section 9701 of title 31 
for the following:
        (1) Making, filing, and docketing an application for 
    naturalization, including the hearing on such application, if such 
    hearing be held, and a certificate of naturalization, if the 
    issuance of such certificate is authorized by the Attorney General.
        (2) Receiving and filing a declaration of intention, and issuing 
    a duplicate thereof.

    (b) Notwithstanding the provisions of this chapter or any other law, 
no fee shall be charged or collected for an application for declaration 
of intention or a certificate of naturalization in lieu of a declaration 
or a certificate alleged to have been lost, mutilated, or destroyed, 
submitted by a person who was a member of the military or naval forces 
of the United States at any time after April 20, 1898, and before July 
5, 1902; or at any time after April 5, 1917, and before November 12, 
1918; or who served on the Mexican border as a member of the Regular 
Army or National Guard between June 1916 and April 1917; or who has 
served or hereafter serves in the military, air, or naval forces of the 
United States after September 16, 1940, and who was not at any time 
during such period or thereafter separated from such forces under other 
than honorable conditions, who was not a conscientious objector who 
performed no military duty whatever or refused to wear the uniform, or 
who was not at any time during such period or thereafter discharged from 
such military, air, or naval forces on account of alienage.
    (c) Except as provided by section 1356(q)(2) of this title or any 
other law, all fees collected by the Attorney General shall be deposited 
by the Attorney General in the Treasury of the United States except that 
all such fees collected or paid over on or after October 1, 1988, shall 
be deposited in the Immigration Examinations Fee Account established 
under section 1356(m) of this title: Provided, however, That all fees 
received by the Attorney General from applicants residing in the Virgin 
Islands of the United States, and in Guam, under this subchapter, shall 
be paid over to the treasury of the Virgin Islands and to the treasury 
of Guam, respectively.
    (d) During the time when the United States is at war the Attorney 
General may not charge or collect a naturalization fee from an alien in 
the military, air, or naval service of the United States for filing an 
application for naturalization or issuing a certificate of 
naturalization upon admission to citizenship.
    (e) In addition to the other fees required by this subchapter, the 
applicant for naturalization shall, upon the filing of an application 
for naturalization, deposit with and pay to the Attorney General a sum 
of money sufficient to cover the expenses of subpenaing and paying the 
legal fees of any witnesses for whom such applicant may request a 
subpena, and upon the final discharge of such witnesses, they shall 
receive, if they demand the same from the Attorney General, the 
customary and usual witness fees from the moneys which the applicant 
shall have paid to the Attorney General for such purpose, and the 
residue, if any, shall be returned by the Attorney General to the 
applicant.
    (f)(1) The Attorney General shall pay over to courts administering 
oaths of allegiance to persons under this subchapter a specified 
percentage of all fees described in subsection (a)(1) of this section 
collected by the Attorney General with respect to persons administered 
the oath of allegiance by the respective courts. The Attorney General, 
annually and in consultation with the courts, shall determine the 
specified percentage based on the proportion, of the total costs 
incurred by the Service and courts for essential services directly 
related to the naturalization process, which are incurred by courts.
    (2) The Attorney General shall provide on an annual basis to the 
Committees on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives and of the 
Senate a detailed report on the use of the fees described in paragraph 
(1) and shall consult with such Committees before increasing such fees.

(June 27, 1952, ch. 477, title III, ch. 2, Sec. 344, 66 Stat. 264; Pub. 
L. 85-508, Sec. 26, July 7, 1958, 72 Stat. 351; Pub. L. 90-609, Sec. 3, 
Oct. 21, 1968, 82 Stat. 1200; Pub. L. 97-116, Sec. 16, Dec. 29, 1981, 95 
Stat. 1619; Pub. L. 100-459, title II, Sec. 209(b), Oct. 1, 1988, 102 
Stat. 2203; Pub. L. 100-525, Sec. 9(ff), Oct. 24, 1988, 102 Stat. 2621; 
Pub. L. 101-649, title IV, Sec. 407(c)(20), (d)(19), Nov. 29, 1990, 104 
Stat. 5041, 5046; Pub. L. 102-232, title I, Sec. 102(b)(3), title III, 
Secs. 305(l), 309(a)(1)(A)(ii), (b)(14), Dec. 12, 1991, 105 Stat. 1736, 
1750, 1758, 1759; Pub. L. 107-273, div. C, title I, Sec. 11016(1), Nov. 
2, 2002, 116 Stat. 1824.)


                               Amendments

    2002--Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 107-273 substituted ``Except as provided 
by section 1356(q)(2) of this title or any other law, all'' for ``All''.
    1991--Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 102-232, Sec. 305(l), made technical 
correction to Pub. L. 101-649, Sec. 407(d)(19)(A)(i). See 1990 Amendment 
note below.
    Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 102-232, Sec. 309(b)(14), which provided for a 
clarifying amendment to subsec. (c), could not be executed, because the 
phrase which was to be amended did not appear after the amendment by 
Pub. L. 102-232, Sec. 309(a)(1)(A)(ii), see below.
    Pub. L. 102-232, Sec. 309(a)(1)(A)(ii), amended Pub. L. 100-459. See 
1988 Amendment note for subsec. (g) below.
    Subsec. (f). Pub. L. 102-232, Sec. 102(b)(3), added subsec. (f).
    1990--Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 101-649, Sec. 407(d)(19)(A)(i), as 
amended by Pub. L. 102-232, Sec. 305(l), substituted ``The Attorney 
General'' for ``The clerk of court''.
    Subsec. (a)(1). Pub. L. 101-649, Sec. 407(c)(20), (d)(19)(A)(ii), 
(iii), substituted ``an application'' for ``a petition'' and 
``application'' for ``petition'', struck out ``final'' before 
``hearing'', and substituted ``the Attorney General'' for ``the 
naturalization court''.
    Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 101-649, Sec. 407(d)(19)(B), (C), (F), 
redesignated subsec. (g) as (c), struck out ``, and all fees paid over 
to the Attorney General by clerks of courts under the provisions of this 
subchapter,'' before ``shall be deposited by'' and ``or by the clerks of 
the courts'' before ``from applicants residing in'', and struck out 
former subsec. (c) which read as follows: ``The clerk of any 
naturalization court specified in subsection (a) of section 1421 of this 
title (except the courts specified in subsection (d) of this section) 
shall account for and pay over to the Attorney General one-half of all 
fees up to the sum of $40,000, and all fees in excess of $40,000, 
collected by any such clerk in naturalization proceedings in any fiscal 
year.''
    Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 101-649, Sec. 407(c)(20), (d)(19)(B), (D), (F), 
redesignated subsec. (h) as (d), substituted ``the Attorney General may 
not'' for ``no clerk of a United States court shall'' and ``an 
application'' for ``a petition'', struck out before period at end ``, 
and no clerk of any State court shall charge or collect any fee for such 
services unless the laws of the State require such charge to be made, in 
which case nothing more than the portion of the fee required to be paid 
to the State shall be charged or collected. A report of all transactions 
under this subsection shall be made to the Attorney General as in the 
case of other reports required of clerks of courts by this subchapter'' 
and struck out former subsec. (d) which read as follows: ``The clerk of 
any United States district court (except in the District Court of the 
Virgin Islands of the United States and in the District Court of Guam) 
shall account for and pay over to the Attorney General all fees 
collected by any such clerk in naturalization proceedings: Provided, 
however, That the clerk of the District Court of the Virgin Islands of 
the United States and of the District Court of Guam shall report but 
shall not be required to pay over to the Attorney General the fees 
collected by any such clerk in naturalization proceedings.''
    Subsec. (e). Pub. L. 101-649, Sec. 407(c)(20), (d)(19)(B), (E), (F), 
redesignated subsec. (i) as (e), substituted ``an application'' for ``a 
petition'' and ``applicant'' for ``petitioner'' wherever appearing, 
substituted references to Attorney General for references to clerk of 
court wherever appearing, and struck out former subsec. (e) which read 
as follows: ``The accounting required by subsections (c) and (d) of this 
section shall be made and the fees paid over to the Attorney General by 
such respective clerks in their quarterly accounts which they are 
required to render to the Attorney General within thirty days from the 
close of each quarter of each and every fiscal year, in accordance with 
regulations prescribed by the Attorney General.''
    Subsec. (f). Pub. L. 101-649, Sec. 407(d)(19)(B), struck out subsec. 
(f) which read as follows: ``The clerks of the various naturalization 
courts shall pay all additional clerical force that may be required in 
performing the duties imposed by this subchapter upon clerks of courts 
from fees retained under the provisions of this section by such clerks 
in naturalization proceedings.''
    Subsecs. (g) to (i). Pub. L. 101-649, Sec. 407(d)(19)(F), 
redesignated subsecs. (g) to (i) as (c) to (e), respectively.
    1988--Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 100-525 substituted ``section 9701 of 
title 31'' for ``title V of the Independent Offices Appropriation Act, 
1952 (65 Stat. 290)'' in introductory provisions.
    Subsec. (g). Pub. L. 100-459, as amended by Pub. L. 102-232, 
Sec. 309(a)(1)(A)(ii), inserted ``except that all such fees collected or 
paid over on or after October 1, 1988, shall be deposited in the 
Immigration Examinations Fee Account established under section 1356(m) 
of this title'' after ``Treasury of the United States''.
    1981--Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 97-116 substituted ``$40,000'' for 
``$6,000'' in two places.
    1968--Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 90-609 inserted reference to section 483a 
of title 31 and substituted provisions making reference to setting of 
fees by Attorney General for provisions establishing fees of $10 and $5 
respectively for covered services.
    Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 90-609 struck out provisions setting fixed 
dollar amounts for specified services to be charged, collected, and 
accounted for by Attorney General.
    Subsec. (g). Pub. L. 90-609 substituted fees received under this 
subchapter for fees received under subsec. (b) of this section as 
description of fees received from applicants residing in the Virgin 
Islands of the United States and in Guam which are turned over to the 
treasury of the Virgin Islands and Guam respectively.
    1958--Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 85-508 struck out ``in Alaska and'' 
before ``in the District Court of the Virgin Islands''.


                    Effective Date of 1991 Amendment

    Amendment by section 102(b)(3) of Pub. L. 102-232 effective 30 days 
after Dec. 12, 1991, see section 102(c) of Pub. L. 102-232, set out as a 
note under section 1421 of this title.
    Amendment by section 305(l) of Pub. L. 102-232 effective as if 
included in the enactment of the Immigration Act of 1990, Pub. L. 101-
649, see section 310(1) of Pub. L. 102-232, set out as a note under 
section 1101 of this title.
    Amendment by section 309(a)(1)(A)(ii) of Pub. L. 102-232 effective 
as if included in the enactment of the Department of Justice 
Appropriations Act, 1989, Pub. L. 100-459, title II, see section 
309(a)(3) of Pub. L. 102-232, as amended, set out as a note under 
section 1356 of this title.


                    Effective Date of 1981 Amendment

    Amendment by Pub. L. 97-116 applicable to fiscal years beginning on 
or after Oct. 1, 1981, see section 21(b)(2) of Pub. L. 97-116, set out 
as a note under section 1101 of this title.

  Abolition of Immigration and Naturalization Service and Transfer of 
                                Functions

    For abolition of Immigration and Naturalization Service, transfer of 
functions, and treatment of related references, see note set out under 
section 1551 of this title.


                      Admission of Alaska as State

    Effectiveness of amendment of this section by Pub. L. 85-508 was 
dependent on admission of Alaska into the Union under section 8(b) of 
Pub. L. 85-508. Admission was accomplished Jan. 3, 1959 on issuance of 
Proc. No. 3269, Jan. 3, 1959, 24 F.R. 81, 73 Stat. c16, as required by 
sections 1 and 8(c) of Pub. L. 85-508. See notes preceding former 
section 21 of Title 48, Territories and Insular Possessions.