The American dream just got pricier: US proposes 75% citizenship fee hike

DHS proposes 75% jump in naturalisation fee to $1,330, elimination of fee waivers; immigration lawyers warn of impact on lower-income applicants

For millions of immigrants pursuing the American dream, becoming a US citizen could soon come with a much steeper price tag.

 

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Monday proposed raising the filing fee for Form N-400, the application used to obtain US citizenship through naturalisation, to $1,330 from the current $760 — a nearly 75% increase. The proposal would also eliminate reduced-fee options and fee waivers currently available to many lower-income applicants.

 

If implemented, the changes would mark one of the largest increases in citizenship application costs in recent years and could significantly affect immigrants, including thousands of Indians who become eligible for US citizenship every year after obtaining permanent residency.

 

What just happened? 

 

The Department of Homeland Security released a new naturalization proposal on Monday, marking a dramatic escalation in new citizenship fees. 

 

If implemented, the new rule from DHS’s US Citizenship and Immigration Services would mean applicants would foot a $1,330 bill for paper filings and $1,280 for online applications. 

 

This would entail fee increases of 75% and 80%, respectively. The previous USCIS rule from 2024 established a $760 fee for paper naturalization application requests and $710 for online requests. In 2016, it cost applicants $595 to apply for naturalization. 

 

To put it in perspective, the filing fee for the N-400 naturalisation application would increase from $760 to $1,330. That's an increase of $570 per applicant.

 

The proposal would also:

 

• Eliminate the reduced filing fee currently available to certain applicants with household incomes below prescribed thresholds.
• Eliminate fee waivers for Form N-400.
• Increase the fee for Form N-336 (Request for Hearing on a Decision in Naturalization Proceedings) to $1,475 from $830.

Proposed fee change is as follows: 

•  

 

Want a US Passport? It Could Soon Cost You Much More

Importantly, the proposal has not yet taken effect. DHS is accepting public comments for 60 days following publication of the proposed rule.

 

"The proposal represents a significant shift in the cost of becoming a U.S. citizen," Adam Klein, a former Department of Homeland Security official and co-founder of Globali.ai, told Newsweek. "While USCIS is largely a fee-funded agency and must recover its operational costs, substantially increasing naturalization fees risks turning citizenship into a benefit that is less accessible to those of modest means.

 

A DHS official told Newsweek that the changes were part of a periodical adjustment of fees, as the current charge does not cover all the costs of processing applications. They added that naturalization was "the most significant" immigration benefit which can be given to an immigrant.

 

For Indian immigrants, who form one of the largest foreign-born communities in the US, the proposal comes at a time when green card backlogs remain lengthy and immigration costs are already rising.

 

The rule is explicitly designed to shift the system to a "full-cost, beneficiary-pays" model, implying applicants themselves must cover the full cost of processing their citizenship applications.

 

N-400 (citizenship application)

 

Paper: $760 → $1,330 (+75 percent)

 

Online: $710 → $1,280 (+80 percent)

 

Form N-400 is the primary application used by lawful permanent residents, otherwise known as green card holders, to apply for U.S. citizenship.

 

N-336 (appeal of denial)

 

Paper: $830 → $1,475 (+78 percent)

 

Online: $780 → $1,425 (+83 percent)

 

Form N-336 is used by applicants who have been denied naturalization and want to challenge that decision through a formal hearing.

 

The government argues that higher fees are necessary to support immigration adjudications, improve processing systems and maintain operational capacity.

 

Immigration law firm Fragomen said the proposal would increase the naturalization fee by 75%, eliminate fee waivers, and remove the reduced-fee option currently available to qualifying applicants.

 

"DHS will accept public comments on the proposed regulation for 60 days following publication in the Federal Register. The agency is required to give meaningful consideration to the public’s feedback, but there is no minimum or maximum period for this stage of review. The agency could then publish a final version of the rule with an implementation period, which typically falls 30 or 60 days after publication," noted Fragomen.

 

Apart from naturalisation-related applications, the proposal also affects several other categories, including:

 

• Employment authorisation applications;
• Humanitarian immigration benefits;
• Asylum-related filings;
• Adjustment-of-status processes;
• Certain family-based immigration applications.

 

The proposal forms part of a broader effort to align fees more closely with the actual costs incurred by US immigration authorities in processing applications.

 

Broader trend of rising immigration costs

DHS has already increased premium-processing fees for several immigration categories in 2026. For example, Form I-140 premium processing rose from $2,805 to $2,965. 

USCIS has also implemented inflation-linked increases to several immigration-related fees under H.R.1-related provisions, as per  Berry Appleman & Leiden.

 

Immigration advocacy group CLINIC has previously warned that fee increases and restrictions on fee waivers can disproportionately affect lower-income immigrants and may discourage eligible applicants from pursuing citizenship.

 

What does this mean for Indians?

 

Indian nationals represent one of the largest groups waiting for employment-based green cards in the United States.

 

Many Indian immigrants spend years, and sometimes decades, navigating the immigration system through H-1B visas, employment-based sponsorship and permanent residency processes.

 

For these individuals, citizenship often represents the final milestone after a long and expensive immigration journey.

 

Higher application costs could add to an already significant financial burden that includes:

 

Visa filing fees;

Legal expenses;

Adjustment-of-status costs;

Travel documentation charges;

Dependent applications.

 

Families with multiple applicants could feel the impact more acutely. 

In parallel with the wage-weighted H-1B cap changes, employers are also navigating significant shifts in how employment-based green card cases are processed within the U.S.  

 

"USCIS has eliminated the remote appearance of attorneys for adjustment of status interviews, limiting attorney representation to in-person appearance only. This change increases cost, adds logistical complexity and may create access-to-counsel challenges for employees located far from USCIS field offices.More significantly, USCIS issued a May 21, 2026 policy memorandum reframing adjustment of status (Form I-485) as an “extraordinary” discretionary benefit rather than a routine pathway. This signals a preference for consular processing and introduces new uncertainty for employment-based green card strategies — particularly at a time when the Department of State has paused immigrant visa issuance abroad for nationals of 75 countries," said Sherry Neal, Partner at Corporate Immigration Partners on June 16, 2026. 

  Key points to note, as per Fragomen:

• The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is proposing filing fee adjustments for the N-400, Application for Naturalization among other fee adjustments related to the naturalization process.
• The naturalization application filing fee would increase to $1,330, from $760, a 75% increase. 
• The proposed adjustments would also eliminate the reduced filing fee option and the availability of fee waivers for Form N-400.
• The proposed rule does not have an immediate impact on filing fees. USCIS is accepting public comments on its proposal for 60 days following publication in the Federal Register.