More naturalization: how much it cost

My appointment at the Préfecture for my naturalization request is next Monday (I assume it'll be like my 10 year cds interview), so I thought I would post about the costs of preparing my application. I tried to note everything I spent while collecting all the necessary documents, but I got a little lax towards the end, so it's not 100% perfect.

	Euros	Dollars
Dad's birth certificate fee	19.34
Postage to mail request	1.78
Postage to resend request	1.78
International Coupon Reponses (10)	15.42
Mom's birth cerficate		18.00
Postage to mail request	1.75
Marriage certificate		14.00
Postage to mail request	1.75
FBI background check	15.08
Postage to mail request	0.89
Postage to resend request        ?
Notarization fees	80.71
Apostille		8
Mailing costs for Apostille	1.75
My birth certificate	10.70
Translation fees	125.00
Bus fare to pick up translations	2.50
Timbre fiscaux	55.00
Total:	333.45€	$40

In order of amount, the most expensive things were the translations of my parents' birth certificates and marriage certificate (mine is German and already multi-lingual so I saved about 30€ there), then the notarization fees at the Consular Post since I had to have the applications for California documents notarized, then the "tax" you pay to apply for naturalization.

For a lot of American document requests you're supposed to include a self-addressed stamped envelope. When you can't purchase the appropriate postage (American in this case), you're supposed to buy International Reply Coupons, which the other person can exchange at the local post office for the appropriate postage. Every time I sent an IRC, they came back to me. For the California documents they just put them back in the envelope and mailed them back to me, paying the postage themselves. But I was really surprised to see that for my Apostille the State Department stapled the IRC on the outside of the envelope and mailed it like that! The postal service didn't stamp or otherwise mark the coupon, so I just took it off when I got the envelope and I was able to use it again.

As a side note, I didn't use all 10 of my IRC for my naturalization documents, but I did use one this summer in Canada to send a letter. Mine are only valid until the end of 2013 so I think I'll use the remaining ones to send cards/letters abroad.

While I was not thrilled to pay so much (and go through the hassle) for translations, notarizations, etc, I think the American naturalization fee is over $600, so I feel like this is not too bad.

I submitted my application August 12th and September 9th or 10th I got a letter saying I needed to make an appointment and come with my husband. When I called today I lucked out and was able to schedule an appointment this coming Monday, so my interview will be just a month after submitting my application. I don't expect any answer until April or May (8-9 months), but maybe having my interview quickly will speed things up by 3 or 4 weeks. The woman at the Préfecture was surprised that the only thing listed on my 'convocation' was a piece of ID; apparently my application is complete and they don't have very many like that.

To be continued next week....