INS Reduces Fee for Program Granting Salvador Refugees a Safe Haven : Immigration: Starting Wednesday, the charge dropped from $405 to $255 per person for the 18-month period of refuge.

After months of protests from immigrant rights groups, the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service on Wednesday instituted a substantial fee reduction for a program granting Salvadoran refugees up to 18 months of temporary haven in the United States.

Since it started in January, advocacy groups across the nation have criticized the INS for charging prohibitively high fees for the program, thus denying many refugees the chance to legally live and work in this country.

Starting Wednesday, the fee dropped from $405 to $255 per person for the 18-month period of refuge. The INS also agreed to place a cap on the amount paid by a family of three or more: a flat $225, plus $60 every six months for each working family member.

Madeline Janis, director of the Central American Refugee Center in Los Angeles, welcomed the reduction, saying it will help boost response to the program.

But she added she was disappointed that the fee reduction comes with only five weeks left before the June 30 application deadline.

“It will benefit some members of the community,” Janis said, “but it’s really too little, too late.”

Janis said that even with the reduction, the program for Salvadorans is still more expensive than a similar program offered to Liberians, Libyans and Kuwaitis, who are only being charged $50 each to enroll.

INS spokesman Virginia Kice said the delay in announcing the new fees was because of the long administrative process needed to approve any change in INS regulations.

She said she did not believe the delay will reduce response to the program because many applicants wait until the last minute to apply, as other applicants did during the amnesty program, which legalized long-term illegal residents of the United States.

“We’ve always anticipated that the bulk of people will apply at the end of the program,” she said.

The fee reduction comes three weeks after a San Francisco-based immigrant rights group filed a class-action suit on behalf of Salvadoran refugees, seeking a fee reduction and waivers for applicants who fall below the federal poverty line.

Robert Rubin, managing attorney for the Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project of the San Francisco Lawyers’ Committee for Urban Affairs, said Thursday he also believed the reduction came too late.

Rubin said although the new rules provide for fee waivers for those below the poverty line, he was concerned that many applicants could be denied waivers because of the strict and complex requirements to prove income.

Congress approved the program--officially known as Temporary Protected Status--last year in a groundbreaking effort to allow people fleeing war or natural disaster in their homelands to temporarily reside in this country. Salvadorans have been granted refuge from this January to June, 1992. After that, participants will be considered for permanent asylum here.

By May 10, the INS received 62,000 applications. The INS and immigrant rights groups estimate there will be 100,000 to 150,000 applications nationwide by the June 30 deadline.