Set aside the culture shock for a moment. Forget the adjustment period, the grocery stores that somehow carry seventeen types of ranch dressing, and the slow realization that “How are you?” is not actually a question. The real surprise of becoming American isn’t the lifestyle shift. It’s the invoice. Because in America, belonging comes with a bill.

Filing for naturalization costs $710 online or $760 if you’re old-fashioned enough to use paper, but that’s more like a down payment to get the process started. The rest of the bill is paid in, well, installments—a payment plan of sorts. By the time applicants factor in legal assistance, medical exams, document translations, passport photos, biometric appointments and interviews, certified records,…