Title: Citizenship Affordability Act
Policy area: Immigration

Summary:
Citizenship Affordability Act
This bill provides for waivers and reductions for various naturalization-related fees for individuals below certain income levels. For an individual whose income is less than 150% of the federal poverty line, no fees shall be charged for various applications, such as applications for naturalization or for a replacement citizenship document. For individuals whose income is less than 250% of the federal poverty line, not more than 50% of a naturalization-related fee shall be charged or collected.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1862 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1862

      To limit the fees charged and collected from applicants for 
  naturalization and related benefits based on poverty, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 13, 2019

   Mr. Menendez (for himself, Ms. Cortez Masto, Mr. Blumenthal, Mrs. 
Murray, Ms. Harris, Ms. Cantwell, Ms. Hirono, and Ms. Rosen) introduced 
the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee 
                            on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
      To limit the fees charged and collected from applicants for 
  naturalization and related benefits based on poverty, and for other 
                               purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Citizenship Affordability Act''.

SEC. 2. PERMANENT FULL AND PARTIAL INCOME-BASED NATURALIZATION FEE 
              WAIVERS.

    Section 344(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 
1455(b)) is amended--
            (1) in the enumerator, by striking ``(b)'' and inserting 
        ``(b)(1)''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(2) Notwithstanding the provisions of this Act or any other law, 
the following fee waivers shall apply:
            ``(A) In the case of an alien whose income is less than 150 
        percent of the Federal poverty line, no fee shall be charged or 
        collected for--
                    ``(i) the filing of an application for 
                naturalization or the issuance of a certificate of 
                naturalization upon admission to citizenship;
                    ``(ii) the filing of an application to preserve 
                residence for naturalization purposes;
                    ``(iii) the filing of an application for a 
                replacement naturalization or citizenship document;
                    ``(iv) the filing of an application for citizenship 
                and issuance of certificate of citizenship under 
                section 322 (Form N-600K);
                    ``(v) the filing of an application for certificate 
                of citizenship (Form N-600); or
                    ``(vi) a biometrics capture or background check 
                associated with any application described in clauses 
                (i), (ii), (iii), and (iv).
            ``(B) In the case of an alien whose income is less than 250 
        percent of the Federal poverty line, not more than 50 percent 
        of the applicable fee shall be charged or collected for--
                    ``(i) the filing of an application for 
                naturalization or the issuance of a certificate of 
                naturalization upon admission to citizenship;
                    ``(ii) the filing of an application to preserve 
                residence for naturalization purposes;
                    ``(iii) the filing of an application for a 
                replacement naturalization or citizenship document;
                    ``(iv) the filing of an application for citizenship 
                and issuance of certificate of citizenship under 
                section 322 (Form N-600K);
                    ``(v) the filing of an application for certificate 
                of citizenship (Form N-600); or
                    ``(vi) a biometrics capture or background check 
                associated with any application described in clauses 
                (i), (ii), (iii), and (iv).
    ``(3) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary of 
Homeland Security shall consider the receipt of means-tested benefits 
as a criterion for the purpose of demonstrating eligibility for a fee 
waiver under paragraph (2).
    ``(4) In this subsection, the term `Federal poverty line' has the 
meaning given such term by the Director of the Office of Management and 
Budget, as revised annually by the Secretary of Health and Human 
Services, in accordance with section 673(2) of the Omnibus Budget 
Reconciliation Act of 1981 (42 U.S.C. 9902).''.
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