The Trump administration unveiled a plan Monday that would raise the cost of applying for U.S. citizenship by $570, a move that would also eliminate fee reductions and waivers for low-income applicants.
Under the proposed regulation from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, paper applications for citizenship would increase from $760 to $1,330. Online applications would rise from $710 to $1,280. Fees to request reconsideration of a denied citizenship application would jump by $645. Fee exemptions for service members seeking citizenship would remain in place.
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees USCIS, said the increases are needed to cover the full cost of processing applications, particularly given new screening requirements under Trump administration executive orders. Unlike most federal agencies, USCIS is largely funded by the fees it charges applicants.
Previous administrations had kept citizenship fees lower than fees for other immigration benefits in order to encourage naturalization. DHS said in its proposed rule that it is taking a different approach. "Although DHS has historically limited the fees for (citizenship-related applications) to fulfill previous administrations' priorities of encouraging naturalization, DHS no longer believes naturalization benefit requests should get lower fees at the potential expense of other immigration benefits," the agency said.
DHS also said in a statement Monday that "[t]he purpose of the proposed rule is to periodically adjust fees to recover the full cost of their adjudication," and that "the current fees established under the previous administration fail to cover the cost of necessary screening and vetting checks under President Trump's Executive Orders."
Doug Rand, a former senior USCIS official during the Biden administration, pushed back on that explanation. "The only credible explanation for jacking up citizenship fees in isolation is that Trump 2.0 is in a hurry to create even more undue barriers for legal immigrants," Rand said.
The changes will not take effect right away. The proposal still has to go through the federal government's formal rulemaking process, and the public will have a 60-day window to submit comments in support of or against the rule, according to CBS News.
To be eligible for citizenship, legal permanent residents typically must have held a green card for three to five years depending on their case. Applicants must also generally pass English and civics tests as part of the naturalization process.
