How much does a US entry waiver cost? Every line, itemized.

Waiver pricing is where this industry is at its murkiest: "all-in" quotes that bury the government fee, first applications priced without mentioning renewals, and preparation labour marked up as if it were access. Here is the entire bill for a US entry waiver (Form I-192), line by line, with each cost attributed to whoever actually receives the money.

The itemized table

Three things to notice, because they are where quotes get slippery.

The government fee: one form, two channels, two prices

You pay the filing fee directly to the US government, through one of two channels: e-SAFE, CBP's electronic portal, or paper filing to USCIS. The channel available to you is determined by the US government — not by whoever helps you prepare. The amounts above are shown live from the official fee source, so they are current on the day you read this rather than whenever this page was written.

Two honest footnotes:

• The fee is non-refundable. A refused waiver does not return it.
• E-SAFE filers still appear in person: after electronic submission you attend a port of entry for fingerprints and a photo within the portal's stated window.

If a quote you're comparing doesn't state the government fee as a separate, customer-paid line, add it yourself before comparing anything.

The record-gathering costs

A waiver application is evidence-heavy. You will need certified proof of your Canadian record (fingerprints processed into an RCMP-certified record check) and court records for each conviction, each courthouse with its own copy fee and turnaround. These are real, small, third-party costs — you pay them to the providers directly, and no preparer can waive them or should mark them up.

Preparation: the only line with a choice in it

Everything above is fixed by governments and agencies. Preparation is the line where prices range from zero to four figures:

Doing it yourself is legitimate — the official CBP page is the definitive instruction set, and if you are comfortable writing your own narrative statement and organising exhibits, you should consider it. What you pay anyone for is preparation labour: nobody can file faster, decide sooner, or influence the outcome. A waiver is discretionary — CBP weighs the seriousness of your record, how long ago it was, and your reasons for entering.

What you should never pay for

The waiver market has a few products that shouldn't exist. A checklist of charges to refuse:

• "Expedited processing." There is no expedite lane. CBP processes applications on its own schedule; a fee that claims otherwise buys nothing.
• A marked-up government fee. The filing fee is paid by you, directly, to the US government — through e-SAFE or with the USCIS filing. Any quote that routes it through the preparer's own checkout has added margin to a pass-through.
• "Approval guarantees." The decision is discretionary — CBP weighs your record's seriousness, the time elapsed, and your reasons for entering. Nobody controls that outcome, so nobody can honestly price it.
• A waiver you don't need. The most common overcharge of all — sold to people covered by the petty-offence or youthful-offender exceptions who were never inadmissible.

The recurring-cost truth

Waivers are typically granted for one to five years. Every renewal repeats the government fee and some of the record-gathering. So the honest arithmetic of a decade of reliable US entry is several applications, not one — which is why our renewal preparation is priced lower (C$199), and why any quote that ignores renewals is understating the real cost of staying admissible.

A worked sketch: someone granted five-year waivers needs roughly three applications over a decade — three government fees plus preparation each time. Someone granted one- or two-year waivers early on (common for more recent records) files more often. When you compare preparation quotes, multiply by the number of applications a decade realistically holds; a per-application saving compounds.

Renewals are also where preparation honestly gets easier: your evidence base is largely assembled, the narrative updates rather than starts over, and — helpfully — a history of complied-with waivers is itself part of the story you present. Paying first-application prices for renewal work is another quiet markup to watch for.

Where the "all-in" quote hides its math

When you see a single four-figure waiver price, decompose it against the table above. The government fee is fixed and public. The fingerprints and record checks are small, third-party, and payable directly. Court record copies are minor. Everything left over — usually the majority of the quote — is preparation labour and margin.

That remainder is not illegitimate: assembling a persuasive discretionary application is real work. But it is comparable work whoever does it, which is why we publish our preparation fee as its own line next to the government's, and why the most useful question to ask any provider is not "what's your price?" but "what's your price with every pass-through removed?" Providers who answer that cleanly tend to be honest about the rest; providers who bundle tend to bundle for a reason.

Before you spend anything

The most expensive waiver is the one you didn't need. A single old conviction can fall under the petty-offence or youthful-offender exceptions, in which case you are not inadmissible and there is nothing to waive — see do I need a US entry waiver? for how those work. Our free check runs that analysis first, and if the answer is "you likely don't need one," it says exactly that and stops.