LOS ANGELES (AP):

The United States fede-ral government is consi-dering raising fees on applications for immigration-related services to help offset a shortage in revenue.

Alejandro Mayorkas, director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services, told reporters Wednesday in Los Angeles the agency is considering cutting costs, raising fees or reorienting revenue in the next two years to alleviate the problem.

Agency officials have blamed the revenue shortfall on an overall drop in immigration-related applications being filed amid an economic slump.

Citizenship and Immigration Services had forecast it would collect US$2.33 billion in fees in the current fiscal year ending September 30, but it is now expecting the figure to fall about US$282 million short of that prediction.

"One of the things that we must consider is the potential to increase fees," Mayorkas said.

Surge in applications

The agency saw a surge in applications and hiring in 2007, ahead of a hefty increase that pushed the cost of applying for citizenship from US$400 to US$675.

The fee-based agency was flooded with a record 7.7 million immigration applications in 2007. Filing dropped off after the spike, as it has historically with other fee increases.

"When one does hire additional personnel, and revenues two years later drop, one must be able to address that," Mayorkas said.

Immigration officials are also looking to Congress for relief after requesting US$206 million to pay for fees for asylum seekers and refugees and for military naturalisations.

Lower filing fees

Immigrant advocates said the agency shouldn't rely solely on fees to process immigration-related applications and the government should help fund the work much as it does immigration and border enforcement. Some also said more immigrants would aim to become citizens if filing fees weren't so high and this would translate into a steady volume of applications.

"The fee is too high, especially in an economy like this one," said Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles.

Mayorkas would not say how much the filing fees could be raised or which services could be affected. He spoke with reporters in Los Angeles on a visit to western states to discuss immigration reform.