The I-751 filing fee is $750 if you mail a paper petition and $700 if you file through a USCIS online account, with no separate biometric services charge either way.1eCFR. 8 CFR 106.2 – Fees The fee is non-refundable, so a rejected filing costs you the same as an approved one. Filing online saves $50 and gives you an immediate electronic confirmation that your payment cleared.
What the Fee Covers and What It Doesn’t
The $750 or $700 covers adjudication of the petition and any background checks USCIS runs, including fingerprinting and photographs at a biometric services appointment. There is no add-on biometric fee for the principal petitioner or for any conditional-resident children included on the same form.
One category of I-751 filer pays nothing at all: a conditional resident requesting a waiver of the joint filing requirement based on battery or extreme cruelty by the U.S. citizen or permanent resident spouse.2U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. G-1055 Fee Schedule Every other filing type pays the full amount, including waivers based on a good-faith marriage that ended in divorce or annulment and waivers based on extreme hardship. The abuse waiver is the only zero-fee I-751.
How to Pay the Fee
USCIS no longer accepts personal checks, business checks, money orders, or cashier’s checks for paper filings unless you qualify for a specific exemption.3U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Filing Fees The routine options are electronic.
Paying Online Through Pay.gov
If you file Form I-751 through your USCIS online account, payment happens at the moment you submit.4U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-751, Petition to Remove Conditions on Residence Pay.gov confirms the charge on the spot, an electronic receipt notice follows shortly after, and the fee is $700 rather than $750.
Paying by Credit, Debit, or Prepaid Card on a Paper Filing
For a mailed petition, complete Form G-1450, Authorization for Credit Card Transactions, and place it on top of your package. The form asks for the cardholder’s name, billing address, card number, expiration date, and signature. USCIS accepts Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover, but only when issued by a U.S. bank.5U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Authorization for Credit Card Transactions Cards from foreign banks are rejected. If the card is declined, USCIS will not retry it and will reject your entire filing, so verify available credit before you mail.6USCIS. Pay With a Credit Card by Mail
Paying by ACH from a Bank Account
You can also pay by direct debit from a U.S. checking or savings account by attaching Form G-1650, Authorization for ACH Transactions.7U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. G-1650, Authorization for ACH Transactions A third party can pay on your behalf using their own account as long as they sign the form. If the account has a debit block, contact the bank and whitelist USCIS before filing, or the payment will fail and the petition will be rejected.
Exemption To Pay by Check or Money Order
If you have no access to banking services or to electronic payment methods, or if electronic payment would cause undue hardship, you can request an exemption by filing Form G-1651, Exemption for Paper Fee Payment, with your petition.3U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Filing Fees If USCIS approves the exemption, you may pay by personal check, business check, money order, bank draft, or cashier’s check drawn on a U.S. financial institution. Make the instrument payable to “U.S. Department of Homeland Security,” spelled out in full, with the amount written both numerically and in words.8U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. G-1651, Exemption for Paper Fee Payment
Fee Waiver for Financial Hardship
If you cannot afford the fee, you can ask USCIS to waive it by submitting Form I-912, Request for Fee Waiver, with your I-751.9U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Instructions for Petition to Remove Conditions on Residence There are three grounds:
- You or a household member currently receives a means-tested public benefit such as Medicaid, SNAP, or Supplemental Security Income. Include an official letter or benefit award statement showing active enrollment.10U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-912, Request for Fee Waiver
- Your household income is at or below 150% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines. For 2024, that threshold is $30,660 for a household of two in the contiguous 48 states, with higher figures for Alaska and Hawaii. Support the claim with your most recent federal tax transcript and recent pay stubs.11U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. 2024 HHS Poverty Guidelines for Fee Waiver Request
- Financial hardship leaves you unable to pay even if your income is above 150% of the guidelines. Document the gap with bank statements, medical bills, rent receipts, and similar records of necessary expenses.
Approval is not automatic. USCIS reviews the evidence to confirm the picture you are presenting. If the waiver is denied, you have to resubmit the petition with the full fee, so build a thorough file the first time.
Children Included on Your Petition
Conditional-resident children can be added to your I-751 at no extra filing fee, provided they got their conditional status on the same day you did or within 90 days afterward.9U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Instructions for Petition to Remove Conditions on Residence A child who became a conditional resident outside that window has to file a separate I-751 with a separate fee. USCIS may still call an included child in for fingerprints and a photograph, but there is no biometric charge.
After Your Payment Clears
Once the USCIS Lockbox accepts your petition and processes the fee, you receive Form I-797C, Notice of Action, by mail as your official receipt.12U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Form I-797C, Notice of Action For a timely I-751, that receipt notice extends the validity of your conditional Permanent Resident Card for 48 months past the printed expiration date, which keeps you authorized to work and travel while the petition is pending.13U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Form I-751 and I-829 48 Month Extension Keep the I-797C with your expired card.
The fee itself is gone whatever USCIS decides. Approval, denial, or a withdrawal you initiate: the money stays with the agency. That is the reason to slow down before mailing. Confirm the amount matches the current fee schedule, confirm the card is a U.S.-issued Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover with room on the limit, or confirm the bank account has no debit block, and confirm that a waiver request, if you are filing one, carries the documentation USCIS asks for. A rejected filing for a payment problem sends you back to the start with a second $750 or $700 to find.