The cost of becoming American

"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free;
And your cash. Especially your cash."

Immigration is a subject close to my heart for all sorts of reasons - not least because I've been an immigrant. It's a costly business, and in the USA that applies more than most. I remember being fleeced for two Employment Authorization Documents (12-month temporary work permits sold as an interim measure prior to a Green Card at around $150 a shot) simply because the Portland INS office (as was) took 450 days minimum to process a Green Card application. That hurt.

The ultimate aim of many immigrants to the US is naturalization. Why? Well, I can't speak for everybody, but for me it was partly because I think - and several years of Bush-based disillusionment have not dimmed this - that the American social experiment is a bold adventure, and I wanted to be part of it. I don't have any great romance about my notion of America. Look, bub: small-town Oregon will cure anybody of that, and I don't mean that unkindly. Quite the opposite, in fact. You see life as it really is, not as some notion gleaned from a flickering screen. And I loved it.

I loved the grass-roots bottom-up nature of the political structure - the first country in the world where power flows up, you know: like the rain in Dr. Who the other night. I loved the fact that even my pest control guy had a political opinion and thought nothing of debating it whilst ridding me of ants. It was intoxicating to see the soul of a country being fought for in hearts and minds in a way that is lost on poor, jaded spoon-fed Brits.

The message was loud and clear: "this country is whatever we make it."

And now, the fees for naturalisation are to be substantially increased. I realise that it is enshrined in law that the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services have to be self-funding, but have their costs really gone up by the best part of 50%? The signal is clear - the ladder is getting harder to climb, the doors are shutting - and the last thing the US needs right now is thousands of (perfectly legal) permanent residents who remain uncommitted Americans because the wrong signals were sent out from Washington.

Bit by bit, Club America becomes harder to join. And that's a genuine shame.

Paying too much to be American - Los Angeles Times