US Citizenship May Become Costlier

The Donald Trump administration has proposed significant changes to the U.S. immigration system that could make American citizenship substantially more expensive for eligible immigrants. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has proposed increasing citizenship application filing fees by nearly 75 percent. Under the proposal, lawful permanent residents seeking U.S. citizenship would face higher processing and vetting costs while also losing access to several existing fee concessions.

According to the proposal, the fee for paper-based citizenship applications would rise from $760 to $1,330, while online application fees would increase from $710 to $1,280. The cost of requesting a review of a denied citizenship application would also jump from $830 to $1,475. Additionally, DHS has proposed eliminating reduced-fee options currently available to applicants with incomes at or below 400 percent of federal poverty guidelines. The proposed rules will undergo a 60-day public consultation period before any final decision is made. Immigration advocates have expressed concerns that the changes could make citizenship less accessible for many permanent residents.