Several US immigration, naturalization fees to increase in April

Taylor Delandro

11 months ago

UTQIAGVIK, ALASKA - AUGUST 10: A new American citizen hlds an envelope with her U.S. citizenship certificate following a naturalization ceremony on August 10, 2023 in Utqiagvik, Alaska. Located along the Arctic Ocean, Utqiagvik is the northernmost settlement in the United States. Formerly known as Barrow, the town of nearly 5,000 people is mostly populated by indigenous Iñupiat, but also with a growing immigrant population. This year U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), who held the ceremony, launched a nationwide effort to bring immigration services to remote locations to help legal immigrants, often green card holders, to become American citizens. In the case of Utqiagvik, petitioners would have normally needed to take the two-hour flight to Anchorage, often multiple times, for citizenship appointments. The USCIS effort puts into effect the Biden Administration's Executive Order 14012, Restoring Faith in Our Legal Immigration Systems and Strengthening Integration and Inclusion Efforts for New Americans. The order, issued on February 2, 2021, instructs U.S. government agencies to promote citizenship through naturalization, improve the naturalization process overall and reduce wait times for applicants. It also revoked a Trump-era memorandum designed to slow and ultimately restrict legal immigration. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

(NewsNation) — The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will increase the cost of some immigration and naturalization requests in April.

In finalizing a new rule, the agency shared details on the new fees, which will apply to any benefit requests postmarked on or after April 1. It will affect benefits related to employment-based visas, work authorizations, applications to register as a permanent resident, and those to apply for naturalization.

“For the first time in over seven years, USCIS is updating our fees to better meet the needs of our agency, enabling us to provide more timely decisions to those we serve,” USCIS Director Ur M. Jaddou said in a statement.

Some fees, including those to replace existing permanent resident cards, will decrease when the changes go into effect.

Additionally, there’s a standard $50 discount for applications submitted online, and a reduction in the fees for Employment Authorization Document applications when adjusting status or for someone under the age of 14 in certain situations.

Although this is the first full filing fee adjustment since December 2016, USCIS has recently announced increases for some processing fees.

In December, the agency announced it would increase the filing fee for Form I-907 to Request Premium Processing, to adjust for inflation. The adjustment increases certain premium processing fees from $1,500 to $1,685, $1,750 to $1,965, and $2,500 to $2,805. It goes into effect Feb. 26.

USCIS said it will use the new revenues to “improve customer experience and stem backlog growth.”