Official: Becoming a US Citizen or Permanent Resident is Now More Expensive
Back in February the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services had announced their plan of increasing their fee structure to finance the modernization of the agency.
According to a USCIS press release:
"USCIS expects that the revenue from the new fee structure will lead to a 20 percent reduction in average application processing times by the end of fiscal year 2009, and will cut processing times by the end of fiscal year 2008 for four key application types: the I-90 (Renew / Replace Permanent Resident Card), I-140 (Immigration Petition for Alien Worker), the I-485, and the N-400 (Naturalization). These four application types represent one-third of all applications filed."
The new fees are a hard blow to thousands of immigrants who couldn't even afford paying the current fees.
With the new fees, a family of two adults and two children filing for a green card will pay more than $3,000 in fees alone-add to that the cost of the required medical examinations, photos, and attorney's fees.
Some of the changes include:
* Form I-130 (Family-based Petition): From $190 to $355
* Form I-140 (Employment-based Petition): From $195 to $475
* Form I-485 (Adjustment of Status): From $325 to $930 (adults); from $225 to $600 (children under 14)
* Form N-400 (to become a US Citizen): From $330 to $675
* Form I-765 (Employment Authorization or EAD): From $180 to $340
The complete list of fees is available at the USCIS Web site. Applications filed before July 30, 2007 will not be charged the new fees. People who petition permanent residency as refugees still do not have to pay a fee.
Immigrant advocacy groups have protested against the new fee schedule. The National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials has said that the new fees consitute a barrier to many immigrants who want to achieve the "american dream."
Notwhistanding, USCIS has said they plan to review immigration fees every two years to ensure that it the agency is recovering the full cost of processing immigration petitions and applications.
The new changes come at a time when Congress discusses a bill that would pave the way for illegal immigrants to obtain work permits, in an attempt of increasing the nation's workforce.
Published by Diego Pineda
Diego has been a science writer for some years now, writing mostly about immunizations and infectious diseases. Before becoming a science writer, he wrote both fiction and nonfiction in South America. Visit... View profile
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10 Comments
Post a CommentOh whaaaa, it's so expensive to become legal. Whoa is me, whaaaa. You know how much it costed me just to change my last name? $1100!!!! More expensive then ANY fee to become a citizen. If you don't like the fees then stay where you are.
NOTHING GOOD COMES FOR FREE
I have a permnant resident card and now want to become a citizen, how do i go about that?
Also is there still such a thing as a dual passport ?
Anybody know where i can find the paper work for my wife to file for me to become a resident? atm my status is illegal
My Permanent Resident Alien Card expires in a few months. Does anyone know what forms I need to submit to renew my card?
I'm glad I'm done with immigration! I was surprised to discover afterwards that I would have had to pay a lot more. For Tim: go to the USCIS website and download the petition for alien fiance(e) form. Once the petition has been approved and your girlfriend has been cleared in the UK (after visiting the US Embassy in London), she will be able to travel to the US to marry you. Immigration will specify exactly what is required.
Sophie
okay, i have an important question that i really hope someone can help answer for me. i have a girlfriend in the UK, she wants to move here in the US to be with me and eventually get married. what will she need materials wise and approximately how much money and time are we potentially looking at for become a legal us citizen and to get married. we really want this all to work out for the best and preferable as quickly as possible. thanks for your guys' help if you can give any.
Exactly who will pay $5K to go back to another country and wait, say 5-15 years, to get back into the States? Those that do will probably never get back in and those that don't will probably be told that they had their chance to be legal and blew it. It would be nice if there weren't so many people coming into the country illegally, but both legal and illegals do seem to have very good reasons for doing so, at least some do. It's a Catch 22.
Aren't they also proposing that for illegals to stay in the states they have to pay $3K, but first they have to go back from whence they came, then apply and pay? Like they're going to have $3K in their pocket, and that's just for one person. What if there's a whole family? It's already hard to get a green card, it'll be just as hard to get back in once they leave.
Interesting article. It's even more expensive in the UK I found. I'm an American citizen, but to marry someone in the UK I had to fly to LA and pay $1,000 just for a marriage visa. After you get married you must purchase a spouse visa which will enable you to become a dual citizen and I can only imagine how much that will cost!
What a bunch of assholes...The bushies claim to for lower taxes (but only for the rich) while trying to raise revenue of the backs of workers. I'm glad the fees for my wife are mostly paid, so they don't steal more of our money..living ex-pat is starting to look better all the time!