<p>I want to apply for US citizenship (I’m a green card holder), but I’m afraid I can’t quite afford the 580 dollars it would cost.</p>
<p>I mean, I could pay it, but I’m a Pell Grant recipient trying to save up for a car, and $580 is a pretty penny…does the US Government grant fee waivers like Collegeboard and colleges? ;-)</p>
<p>Don’t think so, but you can always contact INS. They recently increased their rates.</p>
<p>When USCIS website is up and running tomorrow (seems to be down for maintenance), look up fee waivers for form N-400. According to this document, N-400 is (used to be?) included in the list of forms eligible for fee waivers based on inability to pay:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.uscis.gov/files/pressrelease/FeeWaiver072007.pdf[/url]”>http://www.uscis.gov/files/pressrelease/FeeWaiver072007.pdf</a></p>
<p>But what qualifies as “inability to pay” is a totally different question.</p>
<p>OP, You have a rare ability to get US Citizenship and you ask the US Taxpayers to fund your application for the price of a used car; Which will cost you more in insurance than the car’s worth and far more than the expense of citizenship filing? </p>
<p>And you going to school on US Taxpayer’s generosity?</p>
<p>I’d rethink your priorities.</p>
<p>I’ve yet to learn to drive. In my past life I was very smug about not needing a car, but more and more I see that good economic opportunities are linked to self-sufficiency in transport.</p>
<p>It breaks my heart every time I see a cool internship but realise I’m not even eligible to apply because I can’t drive to wherever I would work at =(</p>
<p>OMG, I hate you, vicious cycle of poverty. No wonder so many people can’t lift themselves out of poverty in this country. Can’t we get a better regional mass transport system sometime?</p>
<p>I don’t even know why it costs so much anyway. Surely it doesn’t take much to check that I’m not a fraudulent Green card holder – I already had to pass a lot of checks to stay this long in this country.</p>
<p>The citizenship exam, I am sure, should be easier than your average APUSH exam, which costs what, 75 dollars? Couldn’t I just send my American history AP scores instead?</p>
<p>Who controls the setting of prices anyway? It’s not like competitors and market forces ensure that fees are set reasonably, or that there are concerned voters ringing up their Congressmen complaining that the cost of new citizenship paperwork is too high.</p>
<p>Take the money you’re saving and buy a used bicycle. You’ll get in shape, save a ton of money, and you’ll be able to get to any job within ten miles.</p>
<p>And before you say that doesn’t work… my daughter works TWO jobs by bike.</p>
<p>Will you get any actual benefits from citizenship? Types of job you apply for need it; or you need a US passport?</p>
<p>If not, just wait, green card is good enough.</p>
<p>I need a US passport. The passport of my old country has expired (I dodged the draft there so I could go to school here).</p>
<p>I can’t really apply to study or do research abroad if I don’t have a functional passport.</p>
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<p>Yes, but if I have to go constantly from city to city later, or run errands for my employer, that might not work out…</p>
<p>Stop whining Wu. You said you can pay it, so pay it. $580 to avoid the draft in your home country sounds like a bargain to me.</p>
<p>Do not underestimate the citizenship exam. You will find it far more challenging than any AP History or Government exam.</p>
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<p>Err, no. Not at all. The test consists of answering 6 questions out of 10 right. The 10 come from a list of 100 which is freely available online. All of the questions are trivial to anyone who has taken any sort of civics course, from the middle school level on.</p>
<p>I think among the “tough” questions I got included who was the first president of the U.S. and what does the cabinet do.</p>
<p>This is the type of test you can spend about an hour studying for to ensure you’ll have no issues.</p>
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<p>This is also an extremely poor idea. Green card is absolutely not good enough. If the OP plans to be in the US long term, then being a citizen is absolutely crucial. You absolutely never know - what if you get into legal troubles someday? Plenty of people who have lived in the US most of their lives but weren’t citizens have been deported.</p>
<p>I bow to your clearly superior knowledge. I have worked with those seeking citizenship status and for many it is a challenge.</p>
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<p>Fine by me, but you’re the one who claimed it was it was far more challenging than any related AP exam. That’s just plain false.</p>
<p>In my opinion, I would find the civics exam more challenging as the stakes are much higher than any AP exam. The questions are at the discretion of the examiner. It’s not multiple choice. Not everyone responds well to oral questioning. It’s a stressful process for many. More challenging does not necessarily mean more difficult in content.</p>
<p>WuTangForeva -</p>
<p>The cost of the citizenship process is set by the government. It is designed to recoup as much of the expense of running that department as possible, because congress has yet to convince birthright citizens that they should pay for this process. Maybe when you are a citizen, you can help change this attitude.</p>
<p>I completely sympathize with the transportation problem, but the first problem you should fix is the citizenship issue. Your job hunt will be so much easier, once you have this taken care of. While you are waiting for the paperwork, go ahead and tell any potential employers or internship sponsors about your transportation issues. Some of them may be able to help you work out solutions to this.</p>
<p>If you don’t even have $600 you don’t need a passport. Get a car and job, and few months later pay for the citizenship application. Sheesh, its not that huge a sum of money. Work 16 hours a days for a month or two.</p>
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<p>I agree with the other things you said, but this is not true. The 10 questions are randomly determined from the same set of 100 available online. There is absolutely no reason not to have seen and answered every potential question in advance of taking the test.</p>
<p>No, tetrahedrON, the examiner does not make up the questions. On that we are agreed. The questions are selected from the list of 100 possibles. </p>
<p>Since you are the expert, how do you think WuTang’s application for citizenship will be received since he/she admits to dodging the draft in his/her home country? It is my understanding that one of the obligations of citizenship is the willingness to register with selective service, at least for males. Just curious.</p>
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<p>I have no idea, but from what I saw he doesn’t have to disclose that information on the citizenship application. He does have to register with selective service in this country, of course. If he’s not willing to do that, he won’t be able to get through the process and become a citizen.</p>