On Nov. 5, 2018, applicants, petitioners, or other requesters who are paying a filing fee at the Los Angeles Field Office and Los Angeles County Field Office will no longer be able to pay by money orders or cashier’s checks. They can still pay by check, debit card, credit card, or reloadable pre-paid credit or debit cards, which USCIS personnel will process through a new electronic system. USCIS is launching a pilot at these two field offices to test electronic payment processing, which will increase transaction security and reduce processing errors that could cause USCIS to reject applications and petitions. Beyond limiting the kind of payment USCIS will accept through this new system, applicants will not experience a change in how they pay their fees.

This internal transition is part of USCIS’ ongoing efforts to modernize its business practices, allowing USCIS field office staff to process applicants’ payments in a quicker, more secure online system. This will reduce processing errors on applications that would previously have led to rejection for non-payment. It will also increase security and traceability of payments for applicants.

USCIS will inform anyone who has made an appointment at these two field offices that we will not accept money orders or cashier’s checks for in-person fee payments, but we will continue to accept personal, attorney, and business checks.

USCIS will update rejection notices to alert applicants who have mailed in their fees to the Los Angeles Field Office or Los Angeles County Field Office to explain that we no longer accept these payment methods.

USCIS will analyze how the electronic payment process works in these two offices before deciding whether to implement the changes more broadly.