How much does it cost to become a US citizen?

[Ilsa]

I've heard about $1,100 for a work visa, and $1,500 for a family.

I've heard about $2,000 to become a citizen, but I've also heard $15,000 to 20,000, and about two years, maybe much more, depending on where you live and the backlog.

Any personal experience with it here? Just curious. I'd like to have real life info to throw back at the Rs who say, "why don't they just become citizens?" As if their low and even mid wage jobs would get them there, ever.

[lapfog_1]

1. My former company used to pay

Around $30,000 for a H1B visa and green card for a high tech worker.

[lunamagica]

2. I'm not sure how much it costs, but that's usually not the reason why they don't become citizens

The biggest obstacle is that there isn't a way for poor or middle class people to become citizens. The only way is to marry a citizen or have a high skill in demand (just found a few others, but those requirements leave most people out)

[drray23]

3. depends if you do it yourself or hire a lawyer

You have to pay whatever fees the USCIS requires. You can find that on their website. Usually, you also have to hire a lawyer to make sure you file correctly. My company is sponsoring an employee for a green card and it is costing us about $10,000 in lawyer's fees. On top of this, a few thousands for the application itself.

The lower numbers you quoted seem correct when it comes to just covering the fees the USCIS is asking for. If you hire a lawyer, it will get into the tens of thousands.

Here are the latest fees to apply for citizenship. This assumes you already have permanent resident status (green card) which itself cost thousands as I listed above.

So, after you have been on a green card for 5 years (3 if you are married to a us citizen), you file for the N400 which is the application for citizenship. Apparently its $640.00 and then later on another $1170.0 .

https://www.uscis.gov/news/news-releases/uscis-announces-final-rule-adjusting-immigration-benefit-application-and-petition-fees

[lunamagica]

4. Here are the requirements

Marriage, high skill worker, and a few others

https://www.uscis.gov/greencard/eligibility-categories

[George II]

5. I don't think there is an actual fee to become a citizen, but there are expenses involved....

....in preparing to become a citizen. One has to take a training course to learn the basics of American government. I don't know about anything else.

My mother came to the US when she was about seven or eight, she married my father when she was in her early 20s. When her family went back to Canada she was the only one to stay.

She became a citizen when she was 47. We have a nice letter from Senator Robert F. Kennedy congratulating her and welcoming her as an American.

[treestar]

6. They are so ignorant that they do not

realize that the only peopel who can become citizens are green card holders who have lived in the US long enough and a few other qualifications. To get the green card is the more difficult hurdle. The immigrants are illegal because they can't get the green cards.

Show them this:

[Ms. Toad]

8. Working on similar posts at the same time!

You beat me!

[struggle4progress]

10. +

[Ilsa]

11. Thank you so much! NT

[Ms. Toad]

7. It's not that simple.

Most people don't have that option. It is typically a decades long process, if the person is eligible to start out with. Being eligible depends on the country of origin, the type of job skills you have, whether our country considers their country an enemy, whether the person has an "anchor" in the US (generally certain first degree relatives).

The waiting times in the family categories range from 19 months to 33 years. The waits in the employment categories range from none to just over 11 years. The law allows for an unlimited number of immigrants who are the spouse, child, or parent of an adult U.S. citizen, so there is no waiting list in that category (although there is a processing time of five months for the initial petition plus additional months for the application itself to be reviewed).

https://cis.org/Vaughan/Waiting-List-Legal-Immigrant-Visas-Keeps-Growing

If it was only a matter of money, I'm sure money would already have been raised for all the DACA individuals. Most aren't eligible - at elast not for decades.

Here's a helpful chart (grossly oversimplified - but enough to give you a picture of why they don't just become citizens):


Bottom line - the answer is, "We don't let them."

[VMA131Marine]

9. The application for Naturalisation, form N400, costs $640

This requires that you already have a green card and have spent enough time in the country. I don’t remember what the cost was when I got naturalized in 1985, but I was able to navigate the process on my own without a lawyer.