Immigration Officials To Double Green Card Application Fee
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
WASHINGTON — Immigration officials said yesterday they will proceed with plans to double the cost of applying to become a American citizen and triple the fee for seeking legal permanent residency.
The fee increases will take effect July 30. Citizenship fees will rise from $330 to $595, plus $80 for required electronic fingerprints, an increase of $10. For legal permanent residency and fingerprints the cost will be $1,010 for those over 14. The cost now is $325.
Officials with Citizenship and Immigration Services said the increases are needed to improve service, hire 1,500 workers, improve offices, equipment, and systems to process applications.
“This agency is fee-based, 99% of our budget comes from user fees. We need to be the agency people expect us to be,” the director of CIS, Emilio Gonzalez, said yesterday.
