Cost calculator
What this actually costs
“Ten thousand dollars” is a legal fee, not the cost of a green card. Separating the two changes the decision: some of the total is fixed no matter what you do, and the rest is a genuine choice about how much help you need.
Fees you pay regardless
These go to USCIS, not to us and not to an attorney. They are identical on every route below.
| Form I-140 petition | $715 |
| Government total | $715 |
What preparation costs on top
Entirely on your own
$0
Free, and genuinely viable for a clean record. The cost is your time and the risk of a gap you cannot see in your own case.
all in: $715
Self-prepared with NIWFile
$149
Drafting, consistency checking, exhibit assembly, and comparison against adjudicated outcomes.
all in: $864
Self-prepared, attorney reviews before filing
$949–$2,649
A licensed second read on a package you assembled. Often the best value if the assessment found no blockers.
all in: $1,664–$3,364
Full attorney representation
$3,000–$10,000
Right for a complicated history, a prior denial, or an RFE already in hand.
all in: $3,715–$10,715
Attorney figures are ranges from published fee schedules, not quotes. Ranges are wide because the work varies: a clean record with a US master’s and a specific endeavor is not the same matter as a contested employment history with a prior denial. Ask any attorney what is excluded, an RFE response is frequently a separate fee, and that is where a low headline number stops being low.
Before spending anything, run the free assessment. If it finds blockers, you will know exactly what to ask an attorney about, and that conversation is shorter and cheaper when you arrive with the specific question rather than the whole case.
Run the free assessmentGovernment fees verified against the USCIS fee schedule (Form G-1055) on 10 September 2026, effective 1 April 2024. G-1055 is revised often, confirm the current figures before filing. Nothing here is legal or financial advice, and nothing you enter on this page leaves your browser.