This tool provides general cost estimates for informational purposes only. It is NOT legal advice. Costs vary significantly based on individual circumstances. Consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for specific guidance.
2026 cost estimates for immigration in North Dakota, including attorney fees, court costs, and other expenses.
As of June 29, 2026, a immigration in North Dakota costs on average $4,350, typically $2,600-$6,900 for a moderate-complexity case, based on sourced attorney-fee and court-cost data. Typical attorney rates run $170 to $315 per hour. A moderate-complexity case typically takes 6-12 months to resolve.
Data verified: June 29, 2026
| Complexity | Low | Median | High | Typical Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simple | $850 | $1,650 | $2,500 | 3-6 months |
| Moderate | $2,600 | $4,350 | $6,900 | 6-12 months |
| Complex | $6,450 | $8,900 | $12,100 | 12-24+ months |
Last verified: June 2026
$170 – $315/ hour
Median: $230/hr
6-12 months
For moderate complexity cases
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</script>Immigration legal costs form around two separate line items that are easy to conflate: the attorney's fee for their work, and USCIS (or other federal agency) filing fees, which are set nationally and apply no matter which attorney — or no attorney — handles the case. A straightforward family-based petition with no complicating history is the lowest-cost scenario and is often billed as a flat fee. Employment-based petitions, waivers, or removal defense involve substantially more attorney hours preparing evidence and responding to government requests, which is reflected in the moderate and complex figures on this page.
Because filing fees are federal and state-independent, cost differences between states for immigration matters come almost entirely from local attorney market rates rather than from any difference in the underlying legal process. Cases that draw a Request for Evidence, involve a prior denial, or require appearing before an immigration judge add attorney hours (and sometimes additional filing fees) well beyond the base petition cost.
Take a moderate-complexity immigration matter in North Dakota. The recorded median total is $4,350, with reported quotes clustering between $2,600 and $6,900. Each statutory line below is sized against that median.
Added together the itemised lines come to $1,075–$2,740, which leaves roughly $1,610–$3,275 of the North Dakota median as professional time — the part that differs between quotes. 2 further recorded fees are not itemised above and are not in that total.
At $4,350, the median immigration cost in North Dakota runs 12% below the $4,938 national average across all 50 states and DC.
North Dakota carries 3 rows — simple, $850–$2,500 at $125–$250/hr over 3-6 months; moderate, $2,600–$6,900 at $170–$315/hr over 6-12 months; complex, $6,450–$12,100 at $210–$375/hr over 12-24+ months — on 4 shared citations. They put it below the midpoint of the table without reaching the bottom quarter.
$4,350 is a median, not the middle of the band — $1,750 above the $2,600 floor, $2,550 under the $6,900 ceiling. Every rank below is out of 49.
North Dakota occupies the 34th row of 49 for a immigration. Its $4,350 median trails the $4,750 table midpoint by $400, which is 8% — close enough that a single firm's quote can straddle both figures.
Florida ($4,350) and North Carolina ($4,300) bracket North Dakota inside a $50 window — narrow enough that 34th is close to arbitrary.
7 tracked states — Idaho, Georgia, Missouri, Ohio among them — record a median within three percent of North Dakota's $4,350. The figure sits in the densest part of the immigration distribution, where a rank change of several rows costs only a few hundred dollars.
Hourly rate does not explain this state's position. At $230 an hour North Dakota is only 40th of 49 on rate, yet 34th on total immigration cost — the totals reflect billed hours accumulating, not an unusually high rate.
| Rank | State | Median | Against North Dakota |
|---|---|---|---|
| 28 | Idaho | $4,450 | +$100 |
| 29 | Georgia | $4,400 | +$50 |
| 30 | Missouri | $4,400 | +$50 |
| 31 | Ohio | $4,400 | +$50 |
| 32 | Wyoming | $4,400 | +$50 |
| 33 | Florida | $4,350 | −$0 |
| 34 | North Dakota | $4,350 | — |
| 35 | North Carolina | $4,300 | −$50 |
| 36 | Indiana | $4,150 | −$200 |
| 37 | Iowa | $4,150 | −$200 |
| 38 | Mississippi | $4,050 | −$300 |
| 39 | Nebraska | $4,050 | −$300 |
| 40 | Arkansas | $4,000 | −$350 |
The 34th position is not a stable fact about North Dakota: $0 up or $50 down moves North Dakota a row, and a ten percent revision in either direction would cross 18 rows, 9 above and 9 below in near-equal numbers.
Climbing five places would mean passing Georgia, Missouri, Ohio, Wyoming, Florida and adding $50 to the $4,350 recorded here.
Five places down means passing under North Carolina, Indiana, Iowa, Mississippi, Nebraska: $300.
$2,800 short of Hawaii ($7,150), $1,000 clear of Kentucky ($3,350).
At $230 an hour, the $4,350 median represents about 19 hours of attorney time — a matter measured in days of work, not weeks. The peer median is 18 hours, so 1 more hours of work sit behind the North Dakota figure than behind the typical state's.
The escalation is comparatively shallow on hours. A complex immigration costs 5.4x a simple one in North Dakota, but the implied workload only rises 3.3x — 9 hours at $190 becomes 30 hours at $295 — meaning the senior-rate premium of 1.55x carries an unusually large share of the increase.
From $2,600 to $6,900 the moderate band is $4,300 wide, close to the $4,750 peer median. End to end that is 19 hours at $230.
Across the 6-12 months the sources record for a moderate matter, the $4,350 median is roughly $483 a month of elapsed time.
A third ordering: by implied hours North Dakota is 14th of 49 at 19 hours, 20 places above its cost rank of 34th on cost — more work behind the same immigration money.
50% up the $2,600–$6,900 band sits the $4,750 table midpoint, buying 21 hours at $230 against the 19 the local immigration median implies — 2 hours apart.
| Measure | North Dakota | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Moderate median | $4,350 | 34th |
| Hourly median | $230 | 40th |
| Implied hours | 19 | 14th |
| Simple median | $1,650 | 38th |
| Complex median | $8,900 | 41st |
$230 an hour puts North Dakota between North Carolina ($230) and West Virginia ($230) — not the immigration cost pairing.
5 other states record exactly $230 — Kansas, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Carolina among them — so rate is a coarse instrument in this immigration table.
$4,350 buys 23 hours at $190, 19 at $230, 15 at $295.
| Rank | State | Median rate |
|---|---|---|
| 38 | Nebraska | $230 |
| 39 | North Carolina | $230 |
| 40 | North Dakota | $230 |
| 41 | West Virginia | $230 |
| 42 | New Mexico | $220 |
The ranking barely moves across tiers — 38th at the simple tier, 34th at moderate, 41st at complex of 49 — so North Dakota keeps roughly the same relative position whether the immigration is straightforward or contested.
$1,650 is 38th of 49 on a straightforward immigration, under Mississippi ($1,650) and over Idaho ($1,600), $250 under the $1,900 tier midpoint.
$8,900 is 41st of 49 once contested, between Nebraska ($9,050) and Kansas ($8,850), $1,850 off the $10,750 tier midpoint.
$100 separates the simple ceiling of $2,500 from the moderate floor of $2,600, so the first escalation is a clean break, while the moderate and complex bands overlap from $6,450 upward. The expensive end of a routine immigration and the cheap end of a contested one are the same money in North Dakota.
| Tier | North Dakota | Rank | Tier midpoint | Implied hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| simple | $1,650 | 38th | $1,900 | 9 |
| moderate | $4,350 | 34th | $4,750 | 19 |
| complex | $8,900 | 41st | $10,750 | 30 |
$1,650 drops North Dakota to 38th of 49 on straightforward matters, 4 below its moderate position and $250 (13%) under the $1,900 tier midpoint.
9 implied hours at $190: 47% of the moderate tier's 19, over 3-6 months.
Mississippi ($1,650) and Idaho ($1,600) bracket it — a $50 window.
1 states sit within three percent of the $1,650 here, against 7 at the moderate row.
$8,900 drops North Dakota to 41st of 49 on contested matters, 7 below its moderate position and $1,850 (17%) under the $10,750 tier midpoint.
30 implied hours at $295: 158% of the moderate tier's 19, over 12-24+ months.
Nebraska ($9,050) and Kansas ($8,850) bracket it — a $200 window.
5 states sit within three percent of the $8,900 here, against 7 at the moderate row.
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 36 | New Mexico | $1,700 |
| 37 | Mississippi | $1,650 |
| 38 | North Dakota | $1,650 |
| 39 | Idaho | $1,600 |
| 40 | Indiana | $1,600 |
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 39 | Louisiana | $9,150 |
| 40 | Nebraska | $9,050 |
| 41 | North Dakota | $8,900 |
| 42 | Kansas | $8,850 |
| 43 | Alabama | $8,800 |
In North Dakota a immigration is 4th of 8 at $4,350, between DUI / DWI and Personal Injury. At 51% of Criminal Defense ($8,550).
The state does not rank uniformly. North Dakota is 24th of 49 for Personal Injury but 45th for DUI / DWI, a 21-place spread across the matter types tracked here, so its 34th on immigration says little about what the other lines cost.
North Dakota is not equally priced in every practice area. Measured against each matter's own midpoint, Immigration runs 8% below its own midpoint while Estate Planning / Probate runs 23% below its own midpoint — a 15-point spread between the extremes.
The largest tracked median in North Dakota is 5.3x the smallest, effectively the 5.1x that the typical state records: the internal spread is ordinary even where the levels are not.
0 of 8 matter types rank North Dakota in the upper third, 5 in the lower, 3 between; immigration is 34th.
In percentile terms it sits at the 31th percentile of the 49 tracked states.
| Matter | Simple | Moderate | Complex | Hours | Rank | vs mid | Above |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Criminal Defense | $3,150 | $8,550 | $24,250 | 34 | 39th | −16% | Montana |
| Divorce | $2,600 | $7,200 | $17,750 | 29 | 44th | −16% | Oklahoma |
| DUI / DWI | $2,900 | $5,800 | $15,250 | 25 | 45th | −22% | Alabama |
| Immigration | $1,650 | $4,350 | $8,900 | 19 | 34th | −8% | Florida |
| Personal Injury | $1,350 | $4,050 | $12,100 | — | 24th | −22% | Kansas |
| Bankruptcy | $1,200 | $3,100 | $4,300 | 15 | 35th | −14% | Indiana |
| Real Estate Closing | $750 | $1,950 | $3,850 | 9 | 31st | −12% | Montana |
| Estate Planning / Probate | $550 | $1,600 | $5,200 | 7 | 40th | −23% | Louisiana |
Simple tier. $1,650 ÷ $190 = about 9 hours, spread over 3-6 months at roughly $367 a month. The $2,700 step to the moderate tier is 10 more hours at that rate.
Work against price. $4,350 to $8,900 is a $4,550 step weighted toward price: 11 more hours at $230 is $2,530, but $295 across 30 hours adds $1,950 — 44% of it.
Borrowing the wrong row. North Carolina ($4,300) is $50 light, Florida ($4,350) is $0 heavy — but the $4,750 table midpoint is out by $400, 8x the neighbour error.
Both ends, in time. $2,600 is 11 hours at $230; $6,900 is 30. Over the 6-12 months recorded for a moderate immigration, that is 1 to 3 hours a month — the difference between an occasional file review and continuous work.
Contested against simple. At North Dakota's own recorded figures, $8,900 buys 5.4 matters at the $1,650 simple median — or, counted in time, 30 implied hours against 9, a factor of 3.3 — the two ratios differing because the rate rises with the tier.
Verified June 2026. Filing fees change on the North Dakotacourt's own schedule; billing models are covered in the legal fees guide.
This tool provides general cost estimates for informational purposes only. It is NOT legal advice. Costs vary significantly based on individual circumstances. Consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for specific guidance.