Total Costs of Immigration

[Glorianna 0]

Hey everyone. I am now a happily married immigrant to the USA. However, I am doing a paper for school on illegal immigration and was wondering if anyone could help me to figure out what the total cost of immigration is (including hidden fees like medical assessments, background checks, etc.)? Thank you so much.

[Leafgal 3]

It seems to vary depending on what country you are coming from and what kind of Visa you applied for.

[william_wallace 8]

We havent filed yet but will be this month. We have giving ourselves a figure of around $4000 plus and that includes the K1, copys and notaries, medical, trip to embassy, flight to USA and AOS. That doesnt even include the wedding. Be interesting how much im of the mark lol

[pushbrk 12,330]

Hey everyone. I am now a happily married immigrant to the USA. However, I am doing a paper for school on illegal immigration and was wondering if anyone could help me to figure out what the total cost of immigration is (including hidden fees like medical assessments, background checks, etc.)? Thank you so much.

You want us to do your homework for you? All the information about family based visas and fees are in the Guides here. Start studying. There are no "hidden fees". There are only people who didn't do their homework and were surprised about fees as a result.

[melusine 5]

Here is our immigration fees so far.

49.95$ Do it yourself kit

455$ I129F package

7.97$ sending the package to USCIS

12.95$ USC passport photo

8.64$ various copies

119$ translation french birth certificate, canadian divorce certificate, canadian mariage certificate

63.10$ translation french police certificate

80$ various post fees

20$ notarizations

120$ 3 canadian police certificate (in general, people have just one)

20$ 2x bank statement (in general, just need one)

72$ 12 fiancee photos (5 for the interview and a bunch for future AOS etc)

213.22$ fiancee medical

20$ various copies

10$ xpresspost to send back packet 3

12.96$ xpresspost for the visa to be sent

131$ fees for the future interview

____________________________________________________

1415.79 $

1010$ AOS, EAD, AP

Edited April 4, 2008 by melusine

[belinda63 2,991]

Some is the basic fees, like filing for the visa, the AOS fees after they arrive, the $100 for the visa, biometrics fees Other fees are country specific, for example the cost of the medical exam.

Because my SO is in Iran, where we have no embassy he had to travel to Turkey for his interview and medical, and of course the second trip for the visa that was not issued, and hopefully his final third visit to Turkey for his visa. Each trip required him to fly and stay in a hotel and meals during his stay.

Some other costs we ran into was in mailing the packet to the embassy. Turkey requires it be sent by UPS and they only accept UPS from Turkey and the US. So my SO sent it to me from Iran registered mail (no idea how much that cost) and I sent it by UPS to Turkey (about $45). Add to that all the copies and notaries for official translations, etc

Right now we are at about $2,000-$3,000 for his to get here plus the $1000 or so for the AOS.

So yeah between the costs and the wait time (I filed the petition in June 2006) I almost wish he had snuck to Mexico two years ago.

[SnowyTater 0]

Add another few thousand depending on where the SO lives, how long you've been together, how often you get to see each other, because just maintaining the relationship with flights and whatever else gets pretty dang expensive

Unless it's a huge paper you might should narrow down your topic. There's a bunch of ways to immigrate to the US legally, k1 visa is just one of them.

If you're doing a paper on illegal immigration you'll find some pretty heated threads on how people here feel about it if you check the Off Topic section

[melusine 5]

that is true, but i wouldn't consider the trips to visit each other as an immigration cost.....

trip to the consulate, i would calculate it definetly (for this person who's so is in iran).

the trip to see each other are more "vacation", and about to stay mentally sane...but well, it's not immigration required.

bills of internet (thanks skype !!) i wouldn't put it there either since i would most probably have internet anyway, whatever if my sweet was living with me or not.

Same think for phonecalls. I would put that on the cost of long distance relationship more than immigration

[TinTin and Samby 11]

that is true, but i wouldn't consider the trips to visit each other as an immigration cost.....

trip to the consulate, i would calculate it definetly (for this person who's so is in iran).

the trip to see each other are more "vacation", and about to stay mentally sane...but well, it's not immigration required.

bills of internet (thanks skype !!) i wouldn't put it there either since i would most probably have internet anyway, whatever if my sweet was living with me or not.

Same think for phonecalls. I would put that on the cost of long distance relationship more than immigration

SOME of those costs are most definately Immigration costs. Meeting In Person is an IMMIGRATION REQUIREMENT - hense costs associated with that end are Immigration costs. Proof of OnGoing Relationship is an IMMIGRATION REQUIREMENT, hence costs associated with that end are an immigration costs...etc..etc..

Warm Regards,

Samby

[justengaged 0]

Hey everyone. I am now a happily married immigrant to the USA. However, I am doing a paper for school on illegal immigration and was wondering if anyone could help me to figure out what the total cost of immigration is (including hidden fees like medical assessments, background checks, etc.)? Thank you so much.

You want us to do your homework for you? All the information about family based visas and fees are in the Guides here. Start studying. There are no "hidden fees". There are only people who didn't do their homework and were surprised about fees as a result.

I don't think this is a helpful comment. I think his question was directed to anyone who happened to have a figure on hand that they could share with him. Not asking for someone to do the research for him. Of course every question asked on this board could be researched with enough effort--but that's what this board is for, to get addl info from other people's experience and knowledge.

[cpfoutz 0]

I do agree witht he poster that said the OP is asking us to do his homework...I believe all document fees do include associated biometrics costs nowdays. The only hidden fee my fiancee experienced was the need for a medical exam in Budapest ($100 or less). If you go through the listing of forms need on this site, then go to the USCIS website and add up the fees associated witht hose forms you'll have the number.

If you get down to counting the cost of meeting each other as a cost, then it will vary widely...the cost to get from Phoenix to Nogales is nothing, the cost to get from Whichita Kansas to India is quite a bit. Additionally, if you count the cost of going to the embassy or USCIS offices, those vary. My wife lived in Budapest and we now live in Chicago...Budapest has an Embassy and Chicago has a USCIS office...no costs there.

[*JG* 2]

I figure Andre's K-1 cost about $1,000 total.....that was 2 years ago.

[pushbrk 12,330]

Hey everyone. I am now a happily married immigrant to the USA. However, I am doing a paper for school on illegal immigration and was wondering if anyone could help me to figure out what the total cost of immigration is (including hidden fees like medical assessments, background checks, etc.)? Thank you so much.

You want us to do your homework for you? All the information about family based visas and fees are in the Guides here. Start studying. There are no "hidden fees". There are only people who didn't do their homework and were surprised about fees as a result.

I don't think this is a helpful comment. I think his question was directed to anyone who happened to have a figure on hand that they could share with him. Not asking for someone to do the research for him. Of course every question asked on this board could be researched with enough effort--but that's what this board is for, to get addl info from other people's experience and knowledge.

Well, we're all entitled to our opinions. Let me elaborate.

I have a line item in my Microsoft money for "China and Immigration". The costs that fell in there during the past two and a half years total more than $10,000. A member in Detroit bringing a spouse from across the river in Windsor Ontario might show a cost of $1,000. Shall the OP report the cost of immigration ranges from $1,000 to $10,000 and leave it at that? What grade would you give for such an assignment.

If my daughter comes home from school and has a homework question like "On what date did the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor?" and I happen to have the correct date in my head and give it to her, who did her homework, her or me?

The OP has the assignment to write a paper on the cost of "immigration", not the cost of my wife's immigration or somebody else's fiance's immigration and the paper will need to contain more than just a dollar figure.

[melusine 5]

SOME of those costs are most definately Immigration costs. Meeting In Person is an IMMIGRATION REQUIREMENT - hense costs associated with that end are Immigration costs. Proof of OnGoing Relationship is an IMMIGRATION REQUIREMENT, hence costs associated with that end are an immigration costs...etc..etc..

I don't agree.....

Meeting in person is what i would call a relationship requirement.... (and immigration concern is if you are in a relationship... and of course, meeting in person helps)

Proof of ongoing relationship... is also something you should have because you are in a relationship... (and not for the purpose of immigration (I mean you don't create it for the immigration as itself))

Thoses are long distance relationship cost.....and not directly related to immigration.

Edited April 4, 2008 by melusine

[Glorianna 0]

Add another few thousand depending on where the SO lives, how long you've been together, how often you get to see each other, because just maintaining the relationship with flights and whatever else gets pretty dang expensive

Unless it's a huge paper you might should narrow down your topic. There's a bunch of ways to immigrate to the US legally, k1 visa is just one of them.

If you're doing a paper on illegal immigration you'll find some pretty heated threads on how people here feel about it if you check the Off Topic section

I am doing my paper on illegal immigration. I have to share a bit of a personal story in the introduction so I thought I would share how I understand why some people might become illegal immigrants because of costs and all of the hassle and work involved (immigration is a big pain!). I remembered my costs being around $2000 but I just wanted to verify it.