Higher Immigration Costs Place Unfair Burden on Impoverished Immigrants

The National Immigrant Justice Center objects to the significant fee increase for naturalization applications that is expected to be announced Wednesday by U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services.

Naturalization is the process by which legal permanent residents may become U.S. citizens. The fee increase will make citizenship cost-prohibitive for thousands of longtime lawful permanent residents who have worked and raised families in the United States and who want to assume the rights, protections, and responsibilities afforded citizens under the U.S. Constitution. The

National Immigrant Justice Center provides legal services to thousands of Midwest low-income immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers who will be negatively affected by the fee increase.

"Obtaining permanent residence and citizenship in the United States is already a drawn-out and expensive undertaking," said Mony Ruiz-Velasco, director of legal services at the National Immigrant Justice Center. "This fee increase will create yet another hurdle for people who have followed our laws to obtain permanent residence. They want to participate fully in U.S. society, and wish to reunite with family members waiting to join them from abroad. If the fees increase, fee waivers should be made more readily available to low-income immigrants."

The current price tag on a naturalization application is $400. Fees for other immigration applications are also expected to rise; notice will be published in the Federal Register on Wednesday.