Official: Becoming a US Citizen or Permanent Resident is Now More Expensive

Beginning July 30, immigrants seeking to become US citizens or permanent residents will have to pay more in immigration fees. In some cases, the fees have almost tripled, such as the adjustment of status fee that will change from $325 to $930.

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."