US Immigration Fee Changes Trigger Backlogs and Sharp Drop in Citizenship Applications

Federal regulatory updates have raised immigration application fees and tightened waiver requirements, creating severe backlogs that affect hundreds of thousands of pending petitions. Advocacy groups say the new cost structure penalises low‑income applicants and prolongs uncertainty about work authorisation and legal protection.

The changes coincide with a steep decline in naturalisation filings. Department of Homeland Security data show 818,500 new citizens in 2024, falling to roughly 97,000 in 2025 – a 72 % drop, with only 27,569 cases processed by April 2026. Officials attribute the slowdown to higher fees, longer processing times and fear of the Trump administration’s immigration stance. The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services also issued a provisional rule allowing asylum cases to be sent directly to immigration judges, bypassing initial interviews.

Legal‑aid clinics and community programs, such as a Miami‑area library offering free citizenship classes, are attempting to mitigate the impact, but the combined administrative and policy shifts have sharply reduced access to legal status for many immigrants.