Becoming a U.S. Citizen Could Cost $1,330. The Public Has Until August 24 to Weigh In

The price of naturalizing is on track to rise by $570, and the window to say anything about it closes next Monday.

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What happened

DHS published a proposed rule in the Federal Register on June 23, 2026 that would raise the filing fee for Form N-400, the Application for Naturalization, from $760 to $1,330 for paper filings and from $710 to $1,280 for online filings. That is roughly a 75% increase over the current paper fee.

The proposal is docketed as DHS Docket No. USCIS-2026-0265. Public comments are due by August 24, 2026, submitted through the federal eRulemaking portal at regulations.gov.

The part that gets less attention

The fee number is not the whole story. Under the proposal, DHS would also eliminate the $380 reduced-fee option currently available to lower-income applicants, and eliminate fee waiver eligibility for both Form N-400 and Form N-336, the form used to appeal a denied naturalization decision.

Taken together, those changes matter more than the headline number for many applicants. A household that qualifies for the reduced fee today would go from $380 to $1,330, a jump of more than three times. A household that qualifies for a full waiver today would go from $0 to $1,330.

Current and former members of the U.S. armed forces would remain exempt from naturalization filing fees under existing statute, according to the proposed rule.

What has not happened yet

This is a proposed rule, not a final one. No effective date has been set. DHS must review public comments and publish a final rule before any new fee takes effect, and the timing of that is not announced.

That means the current $760 paper fee, the $710 online fee, the $380 reduced fee, and existing fee waiver eligibility all remain in place for now.

Who is affected

Millions of lawful permanent residents in the United States are eligible to naturalize but have not yet applied. For that group, the calculation just changed. So did the calculation for anyone who has been assembling money for an N-400 filing over several months, and for anyone counting on a fee waiver.

Immigration legal service providers and nonprofits that run citizenship clinics are also affected, since much of their client base relies on the reduced fee or the waiver.

What this means for you

If you are eligible to naturalize and have been putting it off, this is a concrete reason to move. Filing before a final rule takes effect locks in today’s fee.

If you were planning to request a fee waiver or reduced fee, file while those options still exist.

If you want to be heard on the proposal, comments are open at regulations.gov under docket USCIS-2026-0265 until August 24, 2026. Agencies are required to consider substantive comments, and comments describing concrete financial impact tend to carry more weight than general objections.

If you have any complication in your record, whether an old arrest, extended time abroad, a tax issue, or a selective service question, get it reviewed before you file rather than after. A denied N-400 under the proposed rule would come with no waiver available for the appeal.