Price of citizenship going up

CARPENTERSVILLE -- The seats are set, the red, white and blue balloons hanging in midair and the American flags look impeccable as frosting on the two cakes placed on cafeteria tables in Otto Engineering. Maria Arreola Alonso, a company assembler and newly minted U.S. citizen from Guanajuato, Mexico, walks to the front of the room and addresses the 50 or so co-workers attending her company-sponsored citizenship party.

The shy 22-year-old Elgin resident, in a quiet voice tinged with a Spanish accent, thanked her co-workers for showing up, posed for a few photos and sat down with friends to enjoy a piece of chocolate cake.

Her party came just in time. Alonso, who followed her father to Illinois in 2002, is one of the last immigrants to receive citizenship before the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service nearly doubles citizenship application fees starting Aug. 1. She paid about $400 for her application and fingerprinting fees. In less than two weeks, the same will cost $695 -- with no guarantee of the application winning approval. The cost to start the green card process, the first step in attaining citizenship, will increase from $325 to $1,100.