How to Pay for Form I-485: Fees, Methods, and Fee Waivers

To pay for Form I-485, most applicants owe $1,440 and must submit that fee electronically by attaching either Form G-1450 (to charge a U.S.-issued credit, debit, or prepaid card) or Form G-1650 (to authorize an ACH transfer from a U.S. bank account) on top of the application package. Since October 28, 2025, USCIS no longer accepts personal checks, cashier’s checks, or money orders from most filers, so guides written before that date will steer you wrong.¹ Get the amount right, use one of the accepted methods, and place the authorization form correctly, and the package will move to processing. Miss any of those, and USCIS rejects the whole filing.

How Much You Owe

The fee is set by federal regulation and comes in two tiers:

Applicants 14 and older: $1,440.
Children under 14 filing at the same time as at least one parent’s I-485: $950.

A child under 14 who files separately from a parent pays the full $1,440.² Biometric services are built into the fee, so there is no separate biometrics charge to add. Confirm the current amount on the USCIS fee schedule (Form G-1055) before you send anything, since these figures do change.³

Which Payment Methods USCIS Accepts

For paper-filed I-485 applications, you have two options:

Credit, debit, or prepaid card, authorized on Form G-1450.
ACH transfer from a U.S. checking or savings account, authorized on Form G-1650.

Both the card and the bank account must be issued by a U.S. financial institution. USCIS rejects foreign-issued cards and payments drawn on foreign banks.⁴ If you don’t have a U.S. bank account or card, a prepaid card purchased in U.S. dollars works. Do not try to split one filing fee across a G-1450 and a G-1650; submitting both can cause USCIS to reject the whole package.⁵

Paying by Card with Form G-1450

Form G-1450 is a one-page authorization. Fill in the cardholder’s name as it appears on the card, the full billing address, and the payment amount, then sign it by hand. USCIS will not process the payment without a handwritten signature; stamped or typed signatures are rejected.⁶

There is a gap between the day you mail the package and the day USCIS actually runs the charge. The card must have enough available credit or balance to cover the full fee at that moment. If the card is declined, USCIS rejects the entire application and does not retry the charge.⁶ Leave enough headroom on the card through the expected processing window.

Paying by ACH with Form G-1650

Form G-1650 authorizes USCIS to pull the fee directly from a U.S. checking or savings account through Pay.gov. You provide the bank’s routing number, your account number, the payment amount, and whether the account is personal or business. The form must be signed by hand.⁷

Some banks maintain ACH debit blocks that stop outside entities from pulling funds. If your bank blocks the Department of Homeland Security’s request, the payment fails and USCIS rejects the application. Call your bank before filing and confirm the debit will go through.

If You Can’t Afford the Fee

You can ask USCIS to waive the fee by submitting Form I-912 with your I-485. Fee waivers are available for applicants in categories exempt from the public charge ground of inadmissibility (including asylees, applicants under the Cuban Adjustment Act, the Haitian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act, and registry for continuous U.S. residence since before January 1, 1972).⁸ Waivers are also available for a broader set of humanitarian filers, including T and U nonimmigrants, VAWA self-petitioners, refugees, special immigrant juveniles, and TPS holders.⁹

Outside those categories, you can request a waiver on financial hardship grounds. The clearest path is household income at or below 150 percent of the Federal Poverty Guidelines. If your income is higher but you’re dealing with a medical emergency, job loss, homelessness, or a natural disaster, you can still apply and explain the hardship in writing. USCIS decides these case by case.¹⁰

The Paper Payment Exemption

A narrow exemption exists for filers who cannot pay electronically. You request it by filing Form G-1651, Exemption for Paper Fee Payment.¹¹ If you qualify, you may pay by bank draft, cashier’s check, certified check, personal or business check, or money order.¹

Make paper payments payable to “U.S. Department of Homeland Security.” Do not abbreviate to “USDHS” or “DHS.” The written and numerical amounts must match, and the instrument must be drawn on a U.S. financial institution in U.S. currency.

What Happens When a Payment Fails

USCIS treats a missing or defective payment the way it treats a missing signature: the entire application package is rejected and mailed back. The agency will not process your I-485 first and bill you later. You lose the time that has elapsed and refile from scratch.⁴

For cards, one decline is the end of it: USCIS does not retry.⁶ If a payment posts initially but is later reversed (an unfunded ACH transfer, for example), USCIS generally will not issue a receipt, and any receipt already issued is voided along with the original receipt date.⁴

How to Send the Payment with Your Package

Place the completed G-1450 or G-1650 on top of the rest of your I-485 package. Paperclip it. Do not staple, because staples jam the scanners at USCIS processing centers. Mail the package to the USCIS Lockbox for your geographic area and filing category; family-based and employment-based I-485s sometimes go to different lockboxes, so check the USCIS filing instructions for your specific basis.¹²

Once USCIS receives the package and successfully processes the payment, you’ll receive Form I-797C, Notice of Action, by mail. That notice is your official receipt and carries the case number you’ll use to track the application online.¹³ Keep a copy of your signed G-1450 or G-1650 and note the mailing date. USCIS does not send a separate payment receipt, so the I-797C is your only proof that both the filing and the fee were accepted.

1
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Filing Fees
2
eCFR. 8 CFR 106.2 – Fees
3
USCIS. G-1055 Fee Schedule
4
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Chapter 3 – Fees
5
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Pay With ACH Debit Transaction by Mail
6
U.S. Department of Homeland Security – USCIS. Form G-1450, Instructions for Authorization for Credit Card Transactions
7
USCIS. Form G-1650, Instructions for Authorization for ACH Transactions
8
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Request for Fee Waiver
9
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Chapter 4 – Fee Waivers and Fee Exemptions
10
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Form I-912, Instructions for Request for Fee Waiver
11
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Electronic Payments – Policy Alert
12
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Lockbox Filing Locations Chart for Certain Family-Based Forms
13
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Form I-797C, Notice of Action