Edition: U.S. / Global

Agency Plans to Double U.S. Citizenship Fee

Published: September 4, 1997

The cost of becoming a United States citizen would more than double under a draft proposal by the Clinton Administration, but the idea is drawing fire from advocates for immigrants.

The Immigration and Naturalization Service has forwarded to the Justice Department a plan to raise a variety of fees, including increasing the citizenship application to $200 or more from the current $95.

The department, which oversees the immigration service, has yet to approve the proposal, which would have to undergo a public comment period before it could take effect.

Representative Luis V. Gutierrez, an Illinois Democrat who heads the immigration task force of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, denounced the proposed fee increases. Mr. Gutierrez said the immigration service had no business increasing fees paid by the public when agency backlogs were causing some applicants to wait two or more years to become citizens.