Higher Fees Limit Citizenship Seekers

Immigrants are getting priced out of citizenship because they can't afford higher application fees that kicked in last year, according to a report out today. Citizenship applications plummeted after the fee rose from $400 to $675 on July 30, 2007, says an analysis by the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, an immigrant advocacy group. In the first six months of this year, an average of 46,866 immigrants applied for citizenship each month — a 59% decrease from last year, when an average of 114,469 people applied monthly during the same period. The agency allows citizenship applicants to apply for waivers if they can't afford the fee and generally approves about two-thirds of the requests, Aytes says. In July, USCIS granted 1,052 fee waivers out of 1,578 requests from citizenship applicants. Application fees cover most of USCIS' operating and processing costs. The agency increased fees to cover costs and improve services.

• JJ Commentary: How does this equation work? We want to crack down on illegal immigrants but we make it harder to become a legal immigrant?