How Much Does It Cost to Immigrate? USCIS, Medical, and Legal Fees

Immigrating to the United States generally costs between $2,500 and $10,000 or more once you add government filing fees, a medical exam, supporting documents, and optional legal help. A straightforward family green card runs about $2,500 to $3,500 in government fees alone. Employment cases, cases with complications, and anything that gets denied and refiled push the total considerably higher. How much it costs to immigrate to the US depends most on which pathway you take and whether you file from inside the country or from abroad.

What Each Pathway Actually Costs

The pathway drives the price. Government fees, medical exam, and a moderate estimate for documents and legal help for a single applicant with no unusual complications:

Family-based green card, adjusting status inside the U.S.: $2,500 to $5,500 in government fees and medical costs, plus $2,000 to $5,000 for an attorney if you hire one. The core fees are the I-130 petition ($625–$675), the I-485 adjustment ($1,440), employment authorization and travel documents ($500–$800), and the medical exam ($200–$500).
Family-based green card, consular processing abroad: $1,500 to $3,000 in government fees, including the I-130 petition, the State Department immigrant visa fee ($325), and the USCIS Immigrant Fee ($235), plus the overseas medical exam and travel to the embassy.
Employment-based green card: Fees resemble the family-based route, but employers often cover the petition and labor certification. The employee usually pays for adjustment, the medical exam, and any premium processing. Out-of-pocket for the employee typically runs $1,500 to $4,000, though employer policies vary.
Naturalization: $760 for the N-400 (or $710 online), plus documents and travel. Attorney fees for a routine case run about $800 to $2,000.¹

USCIS adjusts fees periodically, so confirm the current amount on the agency’s fee calculator before you file.²

USCIS Filing Fees

The biggest chunk of your budget goes to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which charges a separate fee for nearly every form. These fees are non-refundable, even if your application is denied or you withdraw it.³ The fees most immigrants encounter:

Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative: $675 on paper, $625 online. This is the first step in most family cases, filed by the U.S. citizen or permanent resident sponsor.
Form I-485, Adjustment of Status: $1,440. This is what you file to become a permanent resident if you’re already inside the United States.
USCIS Immigrant Fee: $235, paid online after you receive your immigrant visa through consular processing and before you travel. It covers production of your green card.
Form N-400, Application for Naturalization: $760 on paper, $710 online.¹

The separate $85 biometric services fee was folded into most filing fees in April 2024. The main remaining exception is Form I-821 for Temporary Protected Status, which still carries a $30 biometric fee.⁴

If you’re adjusting status inside the U.S., employment authorization and travel permission are billed separately. Form I-765 starts at $280 for renewals and runs up to $560 for initial applications.⁵ Form I-131 for travel documents carries its own fee. Together these push adjustment costs well above the base I-485 amount.

State Department Fees If You’re Applying From Abroad

If you’re getting your immigrant visa at a U.S. embassy or consulate rather than adjusting inside the country, the Department of State charges its own processing fees on top of whatever USCIS collected. These fees are also non-refundable and apply per person:

Family-based immigrant visa: $325
Employment-based immigrant visa: $345
Other immigrant visa categories: $205

These cover the consular interview and visa adjudication.⁶ The National Visa Center may also require a separate Affidavit of Support review fee.⁷ Applicants going through consular processing often don’t learn about these until they’re deep into the case, so build them into the budget from the start. If you’re adjusting status inside the U.S., none of these apply to you.

Medical Exam and Vaccinations

Nearly everyone applying for permanent residence must complete an immigration medical exam. Inside the United States, a USCIS-designated civil surgeon performs it. From abroad, a panel physician authorized by the State Department handles it.⁸

The exam covers a physical evaluation, medical history review, mental health screening, and tests for communicable diseases including tuberculosis and syphilis. The doctor also checks your vaccination record and may administer any missing immunizations required under immigration law.⁹

Cost is unpredictable here. The exam typically runs $200 to $500 depending on location and provider. If you need several vaccinations, the total can climb to $700 or more, since each shot is billed separately. Some clinics offer a package price that bundles the exam with common vaccines; others charge per service. Call ahead and ask for a full price breakdown before booking, because pricing varies widely even within the same city.

Documents and Translations

Immigration applications require supporting documents, and most of them cost something to obtain. Certified copies of birth certificates, marriage certificates, and divorce decrees typically run $10 to $45 each from vital records offices. Police clearances, academic transcripts, and other records add to the tab, especially when you need them from another country and must pay for international postage or courier services.

Any document not in English must be submitted with a certified translation. The translator has to certify in writing that the translation is complete and accurate and that they are competent to translate between the languages.¹⁰ A short document like a birth certificate costs roughly $30 to $75 to translate professionally, with longer documents scaling up. Urgency and uncommon language pairs raise the price.

Passport photos meeting the specific formatting rules cost $10 to $20 at most locations. Postage for USCIS lockbox filings is small on its own, but many applicants use certified mail or express couriers for tracking.

Legal Help

Hiring an immigration attorney is optional. For anything past the most routine case, it’s often worth the money, because immigration law is dense and even small form errors can trigger a denial and thousands in refiling fees.

Attorneys typically charge flat fees for predictable work and hourly rates for anything complicated. A standard family-based green card runs $2,000 to $5,000 in attorney fees. Naturalization generally costs less. Hourly rates range from $150 to $600, with most experienced immigration lawyers in major cities at the higher end. Deportation defense, asylum cases, and appeals can exceed $10,000, because the work is less predictable and often involves court appearances.

Two ways people routinely waste money: paying a lawyer for a simple case they could handle themselves, and paying a notario or document preparer who isn’t authorized to give legal advice. In many states, non-lawyer immigration consultants charge substantial fees but can’t represent you if something goes wrong. If you’re going to spend on help, spend on a licensed attorney.

Premium Processing

USCIS offers optional expedited service for certain petitions through Form I-907. You pay extra for a faster decision or at least a faster initial response. As of March 1, 2026:

Form I-129 or I-140 worker petitions: $2,965
Form I-765 employment authorization: $1,780
Form I-539 status extensions for F-1, J-1, and related categories: $2,075

Premium processing is not available for every form. It does not apply to adjustment of status or family-based petitions, so most people pursuing a family green card can’t speed things up this way. For employment cases with an approaching start date, the faster timeline can be worth it.

Fee Waivers

If you can’t afford USCIS fees, Form I-912 lets you request a waiver based on limited income, receipt of means-tested government benefits, or documented financial hardship. The income threshold is 150% of the federal poverty guidelines.¹¹

Not every form qualifies. Waivers are available for Form N-400, Form I-751, Form I-765, and several others. Form I-485 is only waivable in narrow situations, such as adjusting based on asylum or certain humanitarian categories.¹² Most family-based adjustment applicants cannot get the I-485 fee waived. State Department fees are not waivable through this process.

What a Rejection Costs You

Rejections and denials are where immigration costs spiral. USCIS rejects applications that don’t include the correct fee, have payment issues, or fail basic filing requirements.³ A rejection returns your fee but wastes the time and prep money you spent. A denial is worse: the fee is gone and you typically have to start over with a new filing and a new payment.

Common triggers include unsigned forms, incorrect fee amounts, missing photographs, and outdated form editions. USCIS updates its forms regularly, and even a slightly outdated version gets rejected. A declined credit card or bounced check can cause USCIS to reject the entire filing without giving you a chance to fix the payment.³ For a family paying $1,440 to adjust status, a preventable rejection means paying that fee twice. Double-checking every detail before mailing is the cheapest investment in the process.

Sponsor Income Requirement

For most family-based cases, the U.S. sponsor files Form I-864, Affidavit of Support, proving they earn enough to support the immigrant. This isn’t a fee, but it’s a binding legal obligation with real financial consequences.¹³

The sponsor must show household income at or above 125% of the federal poverty guidelines. For 2026, a sponsor with a household of two (sponsor plus immigrant) needs annual income of at least $27,050 in the 48 contiguous states. Alaska is higher ($33,813) and so is Hawaii ($31,113).¹⁴ The threshold rises with each additional household member. Sponsors who fall short can use assets or bring on a joint sponsor who meets the threshold independently.

The sponsor provides federal tax returns, W-2s, and sometimes pay stubs or employer letters as proof.¹³ The hidden cost shows up when the sponsor’s tax records aren’t clean, filings are missing for recent years, or returns need amending. Getting tax documents in order can run several hundred dollars in accountant fees before the immigration process even moves forward.

1
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. N-400, Application for Naturalization
2
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Filing Fees
3
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Policy Manual – Volume 1, Part B, Chapter 3 – Fees
4
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. 2024 Final Fee Rule
5
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Announces FY 2026 Inflation Increase for Certain Immigration-Related Fees
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U.S. Department of State. Fees for Visa Services
7
U.S. Department of State. Pay Fees
8
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Designated Civil Surgeons
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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Finding a Medical Doctor
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U.S. Department of State. Information about Translating Foreign Documents
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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Poverty Guidelines
12
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-912, Request for Fee Waiver
13
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-864, Affidavit of Support Under Section 213A of the INA
14
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-864P, HHS Poverty Guidelines for Affidavit of Support