Beginning November 23, the fees for most all immigration applications and petitions will increase. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), which handles immigration applications and petitions, receives 90 percent of its budget from the fees it charges immigrants, and conducts a review of its fees every two year.

USCIC is justifying these increases on lower-than-expected revenue from fees in 2008 and 2009. Revenue remains low this year, USCIS says.

Immigrant Law Group laments that this increase is being put on the shoulders of immigrants. Application and processing fees already pose a barrier to many potential citizens and residents of this country, and increasing them stands to increase this financial burden. U.S. Congress should instead increase its funding of USCIS. A more accessible immigration system, with realistic and affordable fees, is a key part of making our nation’s immigration system more humane, and decreasing undocumented workers and immigrants.

Some of the applications that wills see increased fees:

Biometrics, what an immigrant must pay to have his or her fingerprints taken: from $80 to $85

I-130, Petition for Alien Relative: from $355 to $420

I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence of Adjust Status: from $930 to $985

I-601, Application for Waiver of Ground of Excludability: from $545 to $585

I-690, Application for Waiver of Grounds of Inadmissibility: from $185 to $200

I-765, Application for Employment Authorization: from $340 to $380

Fees for N-400, Application for Naturalization, will not increase and remain at $595

For a full list of the fee increases, see USCIS's announcement here.