The
Rising Cost of Citizenship
Just
in the last 15 years, the cost of becoming a U.S. citizen has risen. The
application fee has risen from $95 in 1997 to almost $600 today. For many
immigrants, this is a big financial problem. And it could be one of the
main reasons why more of them don't pursue citizenship.
The report from the University of
Southern California's Center for
the Study of Immigrant Integration connects the cost of
obtaining U.S. citizenship to the nation's 8.5 million legal permanent
residents who are eligible to apply for naturalization, but haven't done it.
With reference to related studies,
it points out that in 2007, about 52 percent of legal permanent residents who
were eligible to naturalize were low-income. The cost factor has surfaced in
other surveys of
immigrants, including in study from the Hispanic center which noted
that Mexican-born legal residents naturalize at lower rates than other
immigrants. The report’s survey lets
us know that an overwhelming 93 percent of Latino immigrants who have not yet
naturalized say they would if they could. Of those Latino immigrants eligible
to naturalize, almost 20 percent have found financial costs as a main problem
factor to naturalizing, with another 28 percent conveying language and other
personal problems. This further suggests the negative impact of high costs on
the rate of naturalization, especially for groups with
lower incomes and English-language difficulties.
Naturalization numbers over the
years from the federal government do show out how fee hikes have affected
applications, in particular the steep
increase in 2007, when the price of
applying for U.S. citizenship rose from $330 to $595, not
including an additional $85 fee for bio metrics. The 2007 fee hike prompted a rush
on N-400 naturalization
applications. The numbers spiked in the earlier part of that year as people
tried to get in ahead of the fee increase.
As for fiscal 2007, a year in which the increase was in July, there was
no surge in all other applications in that year but there was a big surge in
N-400 applications, followed by a decline in the latter part of that year and
into 2008.The government processed almost 1.4 million naturalization
applications in 2007; applications dropped to less than half that number the
following year.
As much of a hurdle as it is for
some, the price problem is difficult to solve. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
Services, the agency that handles naturalization operates based on
the fees it collects. A more recent round of agency fee increases in
2010 spared the
N-400.The report suggests it might be worthwhile for Congress to appropriate more money to the agency; it also mentions micro-loans as one solution that's sprung up in immigrant advocacy circles, although some observers call this "a Band-Aid to a deeper problem."
There's an economic irony as well. The
same low-income legal residents who say it costs too much to could ultimately
benefit financially from having U.S. citizenship. The report points to one
study that examined immigrants' income the year they naturalized and found that
citizen immigrants realized an eight to 11 percent increase in individual
earnings, with the increase taking place over the course of several years after
naturalizations.
I personally do not agree with how
the prices of becoming a citizen are rising so high. Immigrants that come to
the United States from Mexico in search for a better life find a promising
future here but with these prices these dreams are put on hold. Not only do the
higher prices affect the immigrants themselves but also affect the United
States because the higher the price the greater the chance for people to become
less likely to pursue a citizenship and prosper in the United States. All this
at the end affecting the U.S because whether one is a citizen or not in this
country the money being worked stays in this country. This also affects Mexico
because its ensuring that most of its people are likely to stay due to the high
costs of citizenship leaving all hard workers in their native lands to help the
economy prosper there.
Sources:
- http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=480ccac09aa5d010VgnVCM10000048f3d6a1RCRD&vgnextchannel=db029c7755cb9010VgnVCM10000045f3d6a1RCRD
- http://www.fitzgeraldlawcompany.com/faq/criminal-charges-immigration.php
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