To pay the Green Card fee online, go to the USCIS Immigrant Fee portal, enter your A-Number and Department of State Case ID, confirm your information, and submit the $235 payment through Pay.gov using a credit card, debit card, prepaid debit card, or U.S. bank account.1U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Immigrant Fee The fee is a one-time charge that every new lawful permanent resident who received an immigrant visa abroad must pay before USCIS will produce and mail the physical card.
What You Need Before You Start
The payment system asks for two identifiers: your Alien Registration Number (A-Number) and your Department of State (DOS) Case ID. The A-Number is the letter “A” followed by 8 or 9 digits. The DOS Case ID is 3 letters followed by 9 or 10 digits. Diversity Visa immigrants have a different format: 4 numbers, then 2 letters, then 5 more numbers.2U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Immigrant Fee Payment: Tips on Finding Your A-Number and DOS Case ID
You can find both numbers in three places:
- The Immigrant Data Summary sheet stapled to the front of your immigrant visa package from the embassy or consulate.
- The USCIS Immigrant Fee Handout, a separate document the consular officer gave you at your interview, with both numbers printed in the top right corner.
- The visa stamp (visa foil) in your passport. The A-Number appears as “Registration Number.” The DOS Case ID appears as “IV Case Number,” but drop the last two digits when entering it in the payment system.
If your A-Number on the visa stamp has fewer than 9 digits, insert a zero after the “A” so it reaches 9 digits total. “A12345678” becomes “A012345678.”2U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Immigrant Fee Payment: Tips on Finding Your A-Number and DOS Case ID If you didn’t receive either document with your visa packet, contact the U.S. Embassy or Consulate that issued your visa to request a copy.3U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Immigrant Fee – Section: Before You Start The Payment Process
Step-by-Step Payment
Start at the USCIS Immigrant Fee payment page and enter your A-Number and DOS Case ID. The system displays your personal information so you can confirm the record is yours. You’ll also be offered fields for an email address and mailing address for payment correspondence; if you’d rather not share either, check the boxes to skip them.4U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Immigrant Fee Payment Guide
If you’re paying for multiple family members, enter each person’s unique A-Number and DOS Case ID separately to add their fees to the transaction. Once everyone is included, select “Proceed to Payment.” The system will redirect you to Pay.gov, a secure platform run by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.5U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Immigrant Fee Payment Guide – Section: Select a payment method
On Pay.gov, choose a payment method and enter your card or bank details. The accepted methods are:
- Credit card.
- Debit card.
- Prepaid debit card, such as a Visa gift card. Only one prepaid card is allowed per transaction, and it must have enough balance to cover the fees for you and any family members included.
- U.S. bank account (ACH payment) from a checking or savings account.
Confirm the total before submitting. Don’t click the submit button more than once — repeated clicks can result in duplicate charges. When the payment goes through, you’ll receive a confirmation receipt. Save it.1U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Immigrant Fee
When to Pay
USCIS recommends paying after you pick up your immigrant visa from the embassy or consulate and before you leave for the United States.6U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Immigrant Fee The reason is timing. The 90-day clock for Green Card delivery starts on your date of entry if you paid before arriving, but on the date of payment if you pay after arriving.7U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. When to Expect Your Green Card Paying late adds waiting time.
If you arrive without having paid, USCIS will send a notice with payment instructions. Ignoring that notice means you won’t receive your Green Card, though it won’t strip you of lawful permanent resident status.1U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Immigrant Fee
Who Doesn’t Have to Pay
The fee is not waivable through Form I-912 or any other mechanism, and there’s no income-based exemption.8U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-912, Request for Fee Waiver A small number of categories, however, are exempt from paying at all:
- Children entering under the orphan or Hague adoption programs.
- Iraqi and Afghan special immigrants.
- Returning lawful permanent residents (SB-1 visa holders).
- K nonimmigrants.
If you fall into one of these categories, you don’t need to pay the fee or go through the payment process.1U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Immigrant Fee
Having Someone Else Pay for You
If you can’t pay the fee yourself, a family member, friend, employer, attorney, or accredited representative can pay on your behalf. No special form or authorization is required. The person paying just needs your A-Number and DOS Case ID to access the portal and complete the transaction.6U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Immigrant Fee This helps if you don’t yet have a U.S. bank account or credit card, since the person paying can use their own method.
After You Pay
Once payment is verified and you’ve entered the United States, USCIS mails your Permanent Resident Card to the U.S. address you gave the Department of State at your visa interview, or to the address you gave the Customs and Border Protection officer at entry.1U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Immigrant Fee Delivery can take up to 90 days, counted from your date of entry if you paid beforehand, or from the date of payment if you paid after arriving.7U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. When to Expect Your Green Card
If you move after entering the country but before your card arrives, update your address with USCIS within 10 days. A USPS mail forward will not help; USPS does not forward mail sent by USCIS, even with an active forwarding request. The fastest route is your USCIS online account, using the Enterprise Change of Address tool under the “My Account” menu, which updates USCIS systems almost immediately. Paper Form AR-11 is available, but USCIS discourages it because paper submissions don’t automatically update your address in their case management systems.9U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. How to Change Your Address Wrong or outdated addresses are one of the most common reasons cards never arrive.
If Your Card Doesn’t Arrive
If more than 90 days have passed since payment, or since entry if you paid before traveling, and the card still hasn’t arrived, report the non-delivery through the USCIS e-Request system. USCIS asks that you wait until at least 90 days have passed before submitting an inquiry.10U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. e-Request – Non-Delivery of Card Before you file, confirm that USCIS has your correct address.
Duplicate Payments and Refunds
USCIS fees are generally non-refundable. The main exception is when USCIS itself made an error that caused an incorrect payment. If you accidentally paid twice, contact the USCIS Contact Center or submit a written refund request to the USCIS office handling your case; USCIS will review it and, if it finds an error on its end, process a refund.11U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Chapter 3 – Fees
One detail worth knowing before you pay: fees paid by credit card, debit card, or prepaid card can’t be disputed through your bank or card issuer. USCIS policy states that these payments aren’t subject to chargebacks or forced refunds, and any refund is at USCIS’s discretion.11U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Chapter 3 – Fees Your only path to recovering a duplicate payment runs through USCIS directly, which is why keeping the confirmation receipt matters.