Immigration Application Fee Increases

Spencer S. Hsu and Darryl Fears in an article in the Washington Post report that The Bush administration will announce an increase in immigration application fees of more than 80 percent, federal officials said yesterday. The cost of applying for naturalization, for example, would rise from $330 to $595, and a required fingerprint check would go from $70 to $80.The increases, which have been under consideration for months, would raise nearly $1 billion for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The troubled $2 billion-a-year agency has antiquated paper systems that have fed years-long delays for applicants and fears that terrorists might slip through the cracks.

Union, civil rights and immigrant advocacy groups called the fee increases discriminatory, warning that they will keep lower-income and less-educated people from becoming citizens.

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For a list of the fee increases, click here.  Thanks David!

KJ