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| Posted Wednesday, May 30, 2007 |
| Citizenship and green card fees to rise |
WASHINGTON - Immigration officials said Tuesday they will proceed with plans to double
the cost of applying to become a U.S. citizen and triple the fee for seeking legal
permanent residency.
The fee increases will take effect July 30. Citizenship fees will rise from $330 to
$595, plus $80 for required electronic fingerprints, an increase of $10. For legal
permanent residency and fingerprints the cost will be $1,010 for those over 14. The cost
now is $325.
Officials with Citizenship and Immigration Services, a division of the Department of
Homeland Security, said the increases are needed to improve service, hire 1,500 workers,
improve offices, equipment and systems to process applications.
"This agency is fee based, 99 percent of our budget comes from user fees. We need
to be the agency people expect us to be. We need to undertake reforms .... The only way to
get from there to here is to have the financial resources to do that," CIS Director
Emilio Gonzalez said Tuesday.
Many immigration groups and some Democratic members of Congress have protested the fee
increases, saying they will put citizenship and legal immigration out of reach of many
immigrants. They also question whether better service will follow. The new fees were to be
published this week in the Federal Register and also were posted on the CIS Web site.
___ On the Net: Citizenship and Immigration Services: http://www.cis.gov Federal
Register. http://www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/index.html
Copyright © 2007 The Associated Press
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