How Much Does It Cost to Apply for a Green Card?

Most adults pay at least $1,440 in USCIS filing fees to apply for a green card, and the full cost to apply for a green card usually lands between $2,000 and $4,000 once you add the medical exam, required vaccinations, certified translations, and other necessary extras. Hire an attorney and the total climbs by another $2,000 to $5,000 for a straightforward case. Almost none of this is refundable if USCIS denies you.¹

What follows breaks the total into the pieces you’ll actually be writing checks for, in the order they typically hit.

USCIS Filing Fees for a Family-Based Green Card

Every form in your application package needs its own fee. Send the wrong amount and USCIS rejects the entire package rather than processing what it can.²

For an adult adjusting status inside the United States, the core fee is Form I-485 (Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status) at $1,440. A child under 14 who files at the same time as a parent pays $950 instead.³

Before or alongside your I-485, your U.S. citizen or permanent resident sponsor files Form I-130 (Petition for Alien Relative). The current I-130 fee is on the USCIS fee schedule and differs slightly between paper and online filing.

USCIS restructured its fees in April 2024, and amounts have shifted since. Always confirm the current numbers at uscis.gov/g-1055 before you mail anything.

Employment-Based Filing Fees

If an employer sponsors you, the petition side of your case runs on Form I-140 (Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers), filed by the employer. That fee is separate from your I-485.

Many employment-based applicants add Form I-907 for premium processing, which obligates USCIS to act on the I-140 within 15 business days. As of March 1, 2026, premium processing on an I-140 costs $2,965.⁴ It’s optional, and it only speeds up the petition itself. If your visa category has a backlog, premium processing won’t move the I-485 forward any faster.

Consular Processing Fees If You Apply from Abroad

Applying from outside the United States sends you through the State Department instead of the USCIS lockbox, and the fees look different. The immigrant visa application fee is $325 per person for family-based cases and $345 for employment-based cases.⁵

The State Department also charges $120 to review the Affidavit of Support (Form I-864) when it processes the form domestically.⁵ After the visa is approved and you enter the country, USCIS charges a separate immigrant fee to produce and mail the physical green card. The amount is on the USCIS fee schedule and is calculated automatically when you pay online.

Medical Exam and Vaccination Costs

Every applicant adjusting status inside the United States needs a medical exam from a USCIS-designated civil surgeon.⁶ USCIS doesn’t regulate what the doctor charges, so prices swing widely by city and practice.⁷ Plan on roughly $250 to $650 for the exam itself, which covers the physical, blood tests for tuberculosis and syphilis, a gonorrhea screening, and completion of Form I-693.

Vaccinations are where the bill can jump. Immigration law requires proof of immunization against mumps, measles, rubella, polio, tetanus, hepatitis B, pertussis, and the other diseases recommended by the CDC’s Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices.⁸ If you already have documented shots, you stay near the bottom of the range. If you’re missing several, the civil surgeon administers them at the visit, and that can add $100 to $500. Many civil surgeons don’t take health insurance for immigration exams, so call a few offices to compare before you book.⁷

A biometrics appointment is part of the process too, but for a standard green card filing there’s no longer a separate fee. The old $85 biometrics charge was folded into the main filing fee in April 2024. A few specific forms still carry a $30 biometrics fee, but the standard family-based or employment-based green card isn’t one of them.⁹

Attorney, Translation, and Travel Costs

An immigration attorney is the biggest optional line item. For a straightforward family-based case, expect $2,000 to $5,000 depending on the complexity of the case and the local market. Employment-based cases with labor certification, waiver applications, prior removal orders, or criminal history routinely run $10,000 or more. You’re not required to hire one, but USCIS has little tolerance for paperwork errors, and a rejected filing means fees paid for nothing and months of lost time.

Certified translations are required for every foreign-language document in your file, and they generally cost $20 to $50 per page. Birth certificates, marriage records, divorce decrees, and police clearances from more than one country stack up quickly.

Travel is easy to underestimate. You may need to travel to an Application Support Center for biometrics, to a USCIS field office for your interview, and to a civil surgeon. Consular applicants add the trip to a U.S. embassy or consulate abroad.

The Affidavit of Support Income Requirement

This isn’t a fee, but it’s the financial hurdle that catches families off guard, and being short on it can waste every dollar you’ve already spent. For most family-based cases, the U.S. sponsor files Form I-864, Affidavit of Support, showing income of at least 125% of the federal poverty guidelines for their household size.

For 2026, a household of two (sponsor plus immigrant) needs at least $27,050 in annual income. A household of four needs $41,250.¹⁰ Active-duty military members petitioning for a spouse or child qualify at the lower 100% threshold. A joint sponsor or the applicant’s own assets can sometimes bridge the gap. The commitment is legally binding and survives divorce; the sponsor stays obligated until the immigrant becomes a citizen, earns 40 qualifying quarters of work, leaves the country permanently, or dies.

How to Pay USCIS Fees

The rules here changed in late 2025, and following old advice will get your application bounced. Since October 28, 2025, USCIS no longer accepts personal checks, money orders, or cashier’s checks for paper-filed forms.¹¹ For mailed applications, you have two options:

Credit, debit, or prepaid card, authorized by submitting Form G-1450 on top of your application. The card must be issued by a U.S. bank. USCIS accepts Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover.¹²
ACH debit from a U.S. bank account, authorized on Form G-1650.

Forms filed online are paid through the USCIS online filing system. Either way, make sure the funds are available. A declined payment means USCIS rejects the whole filing, and the agency doesn’t retry.

Fee Waivers and Fee Exemptions

Two forms of relief exist: waivers you request, and exemptions certain categories of applicants receive automatically.

Fee Waivers

A fee waiver request goes in with your application on Form I-912, not separately and not after the fact.¹³ You qualify by showing one of three things: you currently receive a means-tested public benefit, your household income is at or below 150% of the federal poverty guidelines, or you face financial hardship that keeps you from paying.¹⁴

Not every form is waiver-eligible, and the rules differ by form. Form I-485 only qualifies for a conditional waiver: you must also be exempt from the public charge ground of inadmissibility, which narrows this option to applicants in categories like asylum-based adjustment, registry, or certain humanitarian programs.¹⁴ Most family-based I-485 applicants aren’t eligible, because the public charge ground applies to them.

Humanitarian Exemptions

Some applicants owe no filing fees at all. T visa applicants (trafficking victims), U visa applicants (crime victims), VAWA self-petitioners (domestic violence survivors), special immigrant juveniles, asylees, and refugees can request a humanitarian fee waiver for any application or petition tied to that status.¹⁴

Before you file anything, pull the current fee schedule from uscis.gov/g-1055 and confirm the number for every form in your package. Fees have moved more than once in the past two years, and a filing with the wrong amount comes right back to you.

1
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Policy Manual Volume 1 Part B Chapter 3 – Fees
2
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. G-1055 Fee Schedule
3
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. G-1055 Fee Schedule
4
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS to Increase Premium Processing Fees
5
U.S. Department of State. Fees for Visa Services
6
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Designated Civil Surgeons
7
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Finding a Medical Doctor
8
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Vaccination Requirements
9
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. 2024 Final Fee Rule
10
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-864P HHS Poverty Guidelines for Affidavit of Support
11
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS to Modernize Fee Payments with Electronic Funds
12
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Pay With a Credit Card by Mail
13
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-912 Request for Fee Waiver
14
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Policy Manual Volume 1 Part B Chapter 4 – Fee Waivers and Fee Exemptions