Rundown on fees

So, obtaining a visa is far from being free. And today I thought I would give a rundown of the costs for forms, documents, medical, etc.

Forms:

I-130 - $355 (going up to $420 on November 23, but we won't have to worry about that since we already paid this)
AoS bill - $88
Immigration Visa bill - $404
I-751 - $545 (going up to $590 on November 23 and will possibly go up even more by the time we have to pay this in approximately two and a half years)
N-400 - $675 (going up to $680 on November 23 and will possibly go up even more by the time we have to pay this in approximately three and a half years)

Other costs:

Police certificate - ~$60 (when I went to my local police station about a month ago, I was told it would cost $60, but I'm not sure if the woman and I were thinking the same form, so I shall see later on when I actually get it)
Passport-style pictures - $15 for a set of two (for this whole process, we'll need approximately 10 pictures of just myself and I believe only one was needed from the petitioner)
Medical - between $200 and $300 (this is for the medical alone, if I'm missing any vaccinations, then it will cost more)
Xpresspost envelope - ~$25 (this was needed at the third step, for the interview, but there's a change going on at Montreal right now to using DHL free of charge)

Long-form birth certificate - $45 for three (this included shipping, ordered this while still in South Dakota, not sure if I'll need all three, but at least I have the long-form now)
Mailing my I-130 documents to Ben - $40 (if we opt-in for electronic processing, then this will probably have been the only cost for mailing documents)
Mailing the I-130 package to USCIS - ~$40 (I'm guessing this was the cost for Ben to mail it to USCIS as it was express, with a signature, and it was a large package)

Flights to Montreal - $500 each time (this isn't necessarily a required cost, but Ben does indeed pay to come visit me because of this visa process, so I'm including it)

Other costs to think about that are unknown:
Hotel/flight to Montreal for interview (this cost depends if I'm not living in Montreal anymore and need to pay for a flight and hotel for when interview time arrives)
Ink and paper required for all the photocopies and print-outs of forms made

Approximate total cost for forms:  $2117
Approximate total cost for everything else: $550
Approximate total cost for flights: $3000

By the end of all this, it will have cost around $3000 in necessary forms and documents for the whole immigration process and another $3000 in flights from South Dakota to Montreal and back again, bringing the end total to approximately $6000.

Wow.

~Lindsay


P.S. Ben will be coming for a visit from October 8-12. My birthday's on October 10th and I really wanted to be together with him on that day. He's going to drive to the Sioux Falls airport after work on Friday and is taking the following Monday and Tuesday off as vacation. After this trip, Ben will only have 2 more vacation days this year :(