Sponsors (3)
The bill reduces financial and legal barriers for disaster survivors—especially immigrants—by waiving document replacement fees and improving awareness and oversight, while creating additional federal costs, administrative burdens, and leaving some affected people without relief due to eligibility limits.
Disaster survivors who lost critical personal documents will have application and replacement fees waived when those documents were destroyed by a major disaster, reducing their out-of-pocket costs during recovery.
Immigrants who lose passports, naturalization certificates, or other immigration documents in a disaster can obtain replacements without paying fees, lowering barriers to maintaining legal status and access to services.
People eligible for fee waivers will be more likely to learn about and use the benefit because the State Department and USCIS must publish waiver availability, increasing public awareness and access.
Disaster survivors who do not receive federal individual-and-household assistance are excluded from the fee waiver, so many needy people affected by disasters may not get relief.
USCIS and the State Department could face increased administrative workload to implement waivers, potentially slowing processing of document services after disasters.
If the bill preserves a broad exemption from Form I-912 requirements, some fee waivers may be granted without means-testing, risking that limited waiver funds are used by less-needy applicants instead of the poorest survivors.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Requires fee waivers for replacing destroyed critical documents for individuals/households receiving federal disaster individual assistance and adds agency notice and annual reporting requirements.
Official title: To amend the Disaster Recovery Reform Act of 2018 to require the President to automatically waive certain critical document fees for individuals and households affected by major disasters for which assistance is provided under the Individuals and Households Program.
Introduced February 13, 2025 by Joseph Neguse · Last progress February 13, 2025
Requires the President to waive fees for replacing critical identity documents (like passports and immigration-related documents) for individuals and households who receive federal individuals-and-households disaster assistance after a major disaster and who had such documents destroyed. The bill also requires the Department of State and USCIS to publish notice of the waiver on their websites and requires annual reports to Congress on the number and costs of waivers.