Immigration fees to rise next year
AP
www.philly.com
Dec 7, 2006
DALLAS - The fees that immigrants pay for citizenship and permanent-residency petitions will rise as officials try to prevent more backlogs in the system, Emilio Gonzalez, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, said yesterday.
He said that the amount of the increases was still being determined but that he expected fees to "go up a fair amount."
Immigrants applying for citizenship now pay $330, or $325 for permanent-residency documentation known as a green card. Applicants also pay a $70 fingerprinting fee. The new prices could be in place by April, Gonzalez said.
In the last few years, the agency has been working through a backlog that kept some waiting up to three years for green cards or citizenship
