In short, the price of citizenship will more than double

By Timothy Pratt (contact)

Sunday, June 3, 2007 | 7:14 a.m.

Adriana Arevalo, news director at Univision in Las Vegas, came to a stop one day last week as she scrolled down her computer screen, reviewing stories planned for the 6 o'clock broadcast.

Her attention settled on an item about "the good news involving the decrease in prices for immigration services from the federal government," a key announcement for the station's 27,000 Hispanic viewers that day.

For Arevalo, it was a "Whoa ..." moment.

She remembered an e-mail from the company's national news director sent earlier that day, forwarding a press release from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

She opened it up, called in the producer who had written the item and asked, "What are we talking about here? There's no good news! Citizenship is going up!"

Indeed, those who take the time to check the agency's Web site will find a list of the new fees, effective July 30, showing that the cost of becoming a citizen will more than double, increasing from the current $330 to $675. Becoming a permanent resident, the step below citizenship, will take an even bigger price jump, rising from $325 to $1,010.

With the two applications being the most sought-after services from the federal agency, the price spikes will hit an estimated 1.2 million people.

But you wouldn't have known it from the agency's official announcement, blandly titled, "USCIS Sets Final Fee Schedule to Build an Immigration Service for the 21st Century."

The release, datelined from Washington, was seven paragraphs long. The first five mentioned benefits, waivers, exemptions, reductions and decreases of some fees, 11 times in all. No raises in sight. The sixth paragraph said: "USCIS expects that the revenue from the new fee structure will lead to a 20 percent reduction in average application processing times by the end of fiscal year 2009."

Revenue from what? The answer: from the unmentioned hefty price increases.

"I wouldn't have known there was an increase," said Patrick Corman, a Silicon Valley communications consultant. "I think it's fairly deceptive."

Pilar Weiss, political director of the Culinary Union and a board member of the Citizenship Project, a nonprofit organization that walks people through applying for citizenship, said she was baffled by the agency's announcement.

"They seem to be in a different universe than the one I'm living in," Weiss said.

She noted that the project has seen a sharp increase in people seeking citizenship since possible raises in fees were announced earlier this year. As of last week 1,125 applications had been filed through the project - only 100 fewer than all of 2006, she said.

Corman said the agency's announcement "tried to sugarcoat some bad news by not giving bad news."

But Bill Wright, an agency spokesman and author of the release in question, denied that officials were trying to hide something.

He noted that the agency had publicly stated since February that prices might increase. He said he was trying to call attention to such positive developments as offering waivers on certain fees in certain cases, or that the price of some services - permanent residency for children under 14, for example - didn't increase as much as originally proposed.

"The press release is factual," Wright noted.

He also pointed out that Emilio T. Gonzalez, director of the agency, had been quoted in the national press as saying, "A lot of people are going to be affected by this, there's no sugarcoating it."

Still, Corman said, a press release can reach a wide audience, and what it says matters.

"People are hungering for candid information from the government."