How Much Is the U.S. Citizenship Application Fee?

The U.S. citizenship application fee is $710 if you file Form N-400 online and $760 if you file on paper. Those amounts have been in effect since April 1, 2024, and they include the cost of your biometrics appointment. Lower-cost and no-cost options exist for applicants with limited income and for qualifying military service members.¹

What the $710 or $760 Covers

The single filing fee bundles the application and biometrics into one payment. USCIS eliminated the separate biometrics charge when the current fee schedule took effect, so nothing else is owed to the government to process a standard N-400.²

Filing online saves you $50 and is generally faster to submit. The main reason to choose paper is that a reduced fee or full waiver requires it.

Send the exact amount. If the payment is wrong, USCIS rejects the application outright instead of billing you for the shortfall, and you have to start the filing over.

Reduced Fee of $380

If your household income falls above 150% but at or below 400% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines, you can apply for a reduced fee of $380, exactly half the paper price. In 2026, that income band runs from $23,940 to $63,840 for a single person and from $49,500 to $132,000 for a household of four. The thresholds are higher in Alaska and Hawaii.³

Full Fee Waiver

A complete waiver is available through Form I-912 if you meet any one of three conditions:

You, your spouse, or a household member currently receives a means-tested benefit such as Medicaid, SNAP, or Supplemental Security Income.
Your household income is at or below 150% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines. For a single applicant in the contiguous 48 states, that is $23,940 per year in 2026; for a family of four, $49,500.
You have a financial hardship, such as a medical emergency or sudden job loss, that makes payment impossible even if your income is higher.

Attach supporting documents, such as a benefit award letter, tax returns, or medical bills.⁴ Both the reduced fee and the full waiver require a paper N-400. Online filing is not available if you are asking for either.¹

Free for Qualifying Military Applicants

If you have served honorably in the U.S. armed forces for at least one year, or served during a designated period of hostilities, the filing fee is $0. This applies to current service members and eligible veterans naturalizing under Sections 328 or 329 of the Immigration and Nationality Act.⁵

How to Pay

USCIS changed its payment rules in late 2025, and older instructions online may still describe the previous system.

For online filing, the USCIS account routes you to a secure Treasury Department portal (pay.gov). You can use a credit card, debit card, prepaid card, or a direct withdrawal from a U.S. bank account.⁶

For paper filing, USCIS stopped accepting personal checks, money orders, and cashier’s checks as of October 28, 2025, unless you qualify for a specific exemption.⁷ Paper applicants now pay one of two ways:

Credit, debit, or prepaid card by attaching a signed Form G-1450 to the top of the application. USCIS accepts Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover.
ACH withdrawal from a U.S. bank account by attaching Form G-1650.

Confirm the card has enough available credit before mailing. If the charge is declined, USCIS rejects the whole application without trying a second time.⁸

If you cannot use electronic payment because you lack access to banking or it would cause undue hardship, Form G-1651 requests an exemption. If USCIS approves it, you may pay by personal check, business check, money order, bank draft, or cashier’s check, dated within the past 365 days and made payable to “U.S. Department of Homeland Security.”⁹

Fees Are Nonrefundable

USCIS does not refund the filing fee if your application is denied or if you withdraw it after submission.⁶ A denial means paying the full fee again to reapply, so it is worth taking the time to get the application right the first time.

Other Costs After Naturalization

Most new citizens apply for a U.S. passport soon after the oath ceremony. A first-time adult passport book is $130 in application fees plus a $35 acceptance fee at the facility where you apply, for a total of $165. Adding a passport card brings the application fee to $160 plus the same $35 acceptance fee. Expedited processing adds another $60.¹⁰

Hiring an immigration attorney to handle a straightforward N-400 typically runs from about $1,500 to $3,000, and more for complex cases. Many applicants with simple histories file on their own and pay only the government fee. Smaller costs may include passport-style photographs, photocopies, and certified translations if USCIS asks for foreign-language records.

1
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. N-400, Application for Naturalization
2
Federal Register. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Fee Schedule and Changes to Certain Other Immigration
3
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 2026 Poverty Guidelines
4
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-912, Request for Fee Waiver
5
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Naturalization Through Military Service
6
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Filing Fees
7
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS to Modernize Fee Payments with Electronic Funds
8
U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Form G-1450, Instructions for Authorization for Credit Card Transactions
9
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. G-1651, Exemption for Paper Fee Payment
10
U.S. Department of State. Passport Fees