You can ask USCIS to waive filing fees on many immigration applications by submitting Form I-912 together with the underlying application. To qualify for a USCIS fee waiver on Form I-912, you must show one of three things: you currently receive a means-tested government benefit, your household income is at or below 150 percent of the Federal Poverty Guidelines, or you face extreme financial hardship.1eCFR. 8 CFR 106.3 – Fee Waivers and Exemptions Only one path has to fit. Get the details wrong and USCIS sends the whole package back, while any deadlines on your underlying application keep running.
The Three Ways to Qualify
You Receive a Means-Tested Benefit
If a federal, state, or local agency checked your income before granting you a benefit, USCIS will generally accept that as proof you can’t pay. The common ones are Medicaid, SNAP, TANF, and SSI.2U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Form I-912 Instructions for Request for Fee Waiver To document it, submit an official letter or notice from the granting agency showing your name, the benefit type, and the date coverage started or was last renewed. Award letters, benefit verification letters, and approval notices all work.
Not every government benefit qualifies. Medicare, unemployment, Social Security retirement, SSDI, and student financial aid are all excluded, because those programs aren’t means-tested.2U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Form I-912 Instructions for Request for Fee Waiver If those are the only benefits you get, you’ll need to qualify under one of the other two paths.
Your Household Income Is At or Below 150% of the Poverty Guidelines
For a household of four in the 48 contiguous states, 150 percent of the guidelines currently sits at $49,500. Alaska and Hawaii are higher: $61,875 and $56,925 respectively for the same household size.3U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Poverty Guidelines The figures update every year, so check the USCIS poverty guidelines page for your household size before filing.
USCIS prefers IRS tax transcripts from your most recent filing year over copies of returns. If you don’t have tax records, or if your current wages tell a more accurate story, submit recent consecutive pay stubs or a letter from your employer confirming your earnings.
You Face Extreme Financial Hardship
Even if your income sits above 150 percent of the poverty line, unexpected expenses can still qualify you. Medical bills, job loss, and emergency costs are the typical triggers. The evidence burden is heaviest here. You need to lay out total monthly income against total monthly expenses and show nothing is left for immigration fees: rent receipts, utility bills, medical statements, and records of any extraordinary costs.2U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Form I-912 Instructions for Request for Fee Waiver Show the math plainly.
If you have no income at all and no tax filing history, describe that in Part 5, Item Number 9 of the form. Affidavits from religious institutions, nonprofits, or community organizations that support you help. If you recently lost a job and aren’t collecting unemployment, a termination letter establishes the timeline.
Counting Your Household
Household size directly sets your income threshold, so getting it right matters. USCIS counts you, your spouse if you live together, and dependent family members who rely on income from you, your spouse, or the head of household.4U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Policy Manual – Volume 1 – Part B – Chapter 4 – Fee Waivers and Fee Exemptions
Dependents you can include:
- Unmarried children or legal wards under 21
- Unmarried children or legal wards under 24 who are full-time students
- Unmarried children or legal wards for whom you’re the legal guardian due to a physical, developmental, or mental impairment
- Parents living in your household and dependent on household income
- Anyone else claimed as a dependent on the household’s federal tax return
Roommates, nannies, and other people who share your space but don’t depend on your income don’t count. A separated spouse who doesn’t live with you isn’t part of the household either. If the household size you report doesn’t line up with your supporting documents, USCIS will likely deny the request.
Which Forms the Waiver Covers
Form I-912 works only for a specific list of applications. The most common eligible ones:
- Form N-400, Application for Naturalization ($760 by paper, $710 online)5U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. N-400, Application for Naturalization
- Form I-90, Application to Replace Permanent Resident Card
- Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization (except DACA-based filings)
- Form I-485, Adjustment of Status, when based on asylum, T nonimmigrant status, or other qualifying categories
The full list is on the USCIS I-912 page. One frequent surprise: Form I-130, the family-based immigration petition, is not on the list and cannot be waived.6U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-912, Request for Fee Waiver
DACA and TPS
DACA applicants can’t use Form I-912 at all. There are no fee waivers for DACA requests, and the restriction extends to DACA-based employment authorization applications.2U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Form I-912 Instructions for Request for Fee Waiver
TPS is more nuanced. First-time applicants filing Form I-821 can request a waiver of the biometric services fee only, not the full application fee. If you already hold TPS and are filing a form tied to that status, the waiver may reach further.
You May Not Need I-912 At All
Some applicants have fees waived automatically by regulation and don’t need to file Form I-912. Under 8 CFR 106.3(b), these categories are exempt from fees on most status-related forms, including I-485, I-765, I-131, and I-601:1eCFR. 8 CFR 106.3 – Fee Waivers and Exemptions
- T nonimmigrant status (trafficking victims) and derivatives
- U nonimmigrant status (victims of qualifying criminal activity)
- VAWA self-petitioners and derivatives
- Special Immigrant Juveniles
- Refugees, including those paroled as refugees
- Afghan and Iraqi special immigrants
If any of these describes you, check the fee schedule for your specific form. It will show $0, and there’s no need to file I-912.7U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Form G-1055 – Fee Schedule
If You Earn Slightly Too Much: Form I-942
Households between 150 and 200 percent of the poverty guidelines fall into a gap: too much income for a full waiver, still stretched thin. Form I-942 covers that band, but only for the N-400 naturalization application.8U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Instructions for Request for Reduced Fee, Form I-942 An approved I-942 cuts the N-400 filing fee in half, from $760 to $380. It doesn’t waive the biometric services fee, which a full I-912 approval would. If you might qualify under either, try the I-912 first.
How to File
Download the current version of Form I-912 from uscis.gov. Outdated versions get rejected.
You have two submission options. For all eligible forms, you can mail a paper Form I-912 with the underlying application to the address in that application’s filing instructions.2U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Form I-912 Instructions for Request for Fee Waiver For certain eligible forms, you can upload a completed PDF of Form I-912 through your USCIS online account along with the application it covers.9U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Additional Information on Filing a Fee Waiver
A few filing points that trip people up:
- Bundle the I-912, the underlying application, and all supporting documents together in the same package.
- A single I-912 can cover multiple forms filed together (for example, an I-485 and I-765 filed concurrently).
- A single I-912 can cover multiple family members’ applications when everything ships together.
Every I-912 must list each household member accurately: names, dates of birth, and relationships. You sign under penalty of perjury.
If approved, USCIS processes your application as though the fee were paid in full and mails a receipt notice.
If Your Fee Waiver Is Denied
There is no administrative appeal. USCIS returns your entire application package with a notice (Form I-797) explaining the rejection.4U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Policy Manual – Volume 1 – Part B – Chapter 4 – Fee Waivers and Fee Exemptions
You have two options: resubmit with a new fee waiver request that addresses the deficiencies, or refile with the full fee. Move fast either way. Filing a fee waiver does not pause any other deadline attached to your underlying application. If that application had a limited filing window, the clock kept running while USCIS reviewed your waiver, and missing the window can mean starting over or losing eligibility.
Be Honest About Your Finances
You sign the I-912 under penalty of perjury, and the consequences of fabricating financial information reach well past a denied waiver. Under immigration law, anyone who obtains or attempts to obtain an immigration benefit through fraud or willful misrepresentation can be found permanently inadmissible.10U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Overview of Fraud and Willful Misrepresentation Fraud requires intent to deceive; willful misrepresentation does not. Submitting materially false financial information is enough on its own. Failed attempts count too. If USCIS spots the false information and denies the waiver, that finding can still trigger inadmissibility, which is a far worse outcome than paying the fee or filing an honest hardship claim would have been.