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 Ohio, including attorney fees, court costs, and other expenses.
As of June 29, 2026, a immigration in Ohio costs on average $4,400, typically $2,650-$7,100 for a moderate-complexity case, based on sourced attorney-fee and court-cost data. Typical attorney rates run $185 to $350 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 | $950 | $1,850 | $2,800 | 3-6 months |
| Moderate | $2,650 | $4,400 | $7,100 | 6-12 months |
| Complex | $7,200 | $9,900 | $13,500 | 12-24+ months |
Last verified: June 2026
$185 – $350/ hour
Median: $255/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 Ohio. The recorded median total is $4,400, with reported quotes clustering between $2,650 and $7,100. Each statutory line below is sized against that median.
Added together the itemised lines come to $1,075–$2,740, which leaves roughly $1,660–$3,325 of the Ohio 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 $4,400, the median immigration cost in Ohio runs 11% below the $4,938 national average across all 50 states and DC.
Ohio carries 3 rows — simple, $950–$2,800 at $140–$280/hr over 3-6 months; moderate, $2,650–$7,100 at $185–$350/hr over 6-12 months; complex, $7,200–$13,500 at $230–$420/hr over 12-24+ months — on 4 shared citations. They put it below the midpoint of the table without reaching the bottom quarter.
$4,400 is a median, not the middle of the band — $1,750 above the $2,650 floor, $2,700 under the $7,100 ceiling. Every rank below is out of 49.
Ohio occupies the 31st row of 49 for a immigration. Its $4,400 median trails the $4,750 table midpoint by $350, which is 7% — close enough that a single firm's quote can straddle both figures.
Missouri ($4,400) and Wyoming ($4,400) bracket Ohio inside a $0 window — narrow enough that 31st is close to arbitrary.
8 tracked states — Montana, Idaho, Georgia, Missouri among them — record a median within three percent of Ohio's $4,400. The figure sits in the densest part of the immigration distribution, where a rank change of several rows costs only a few hundred dollars.
Ohio ranks 28th of 49 on hourly rate at $255 an hour and 31st on total cost — 3 places apart, enough that the rate is a slightly optimistic guide to the total.
| Rank | State | Median | Against Ohio |
|---|---|---|---|
| 25 | Michigan | $4,750 | +$350 |
| 26 | Tennessee | $4,700 | +$300 |
| 27 | Montana | $4,500 | +$100 |
| 28 | Idaho | $4,450 | +$50 |
| 29 | Georgia | $4,400 | −$0 |
| 30 | Missouri | $4,400 | −$0 |
| 31 | Ohio | $4,400 | — |
| 32 | Wyoming | $4,400 | −$0 |
| 33 | Florida | $4,350 | −$50 |
| 34 | North Dakota | $4,350 | −$50 |
| 35 | North Carolina | $4,300 | −$100 |
| 36 | Indiana | $4,150 | −$250 |
| 37 | Iowa | $4,150 | −$250 |
The rows within ten percent are lopsided: 9 below Ohio against 5 above. $0 up or $0 down moves Ohio a row, so a downward revision would cost the state far more places than an equivalent upward one would gain — the 31st position is propped up by a thin immigration field above it and a crowded one beneath.
Climbing five places would mean passing Tennessee, Montana, Idaho, Georgia, Missouri and adding $300 to the $4,400 recorded here.
Five places down means passing under Wyoming, Florida, North Dakota, North Carolina, Indiana: $250.
$2,750 short of Hawaii ($7,150), $1,050 clear of Kentucky ($3,350).
At $255 an hour, the $4,400 median represents about 17 hours of attorney time — a matter measured in days of work, not weeks. The peer median is 18 hours: Ohio reaches its total in 1 fewer implied hours, because the rate rather than the workload carries more of it.
The escalation is comparatively shallow on hours. A complex immigration costs 5.4x a simple one in Ohio, but the implied workload only rises 3.3x — 9 hours at $210 becomes 30 hours at $325 — meaning the senior-rate premium of 1.55x carries an unusually large share of the increase.
From $2,650 to $7,100 the moderate band is $4,450 wide, close to the $4,750 peer median. End to end that is 17 hours at $255.
Across the 6-12 months the sources record for a moderate matter, the $4,400 median is roughly $489 a month of elapsed time.
By implied hours Ohio falls to 36th of 49 at 17 hours, 5 places below its 31st on cost — the immigration total arriving on less recorded work.
47% up the $2,650–$7,100 band sits the $4,750 table midpoint, buying 19 hours at $255 against the 17 the local immigration median implies — 2 hours apart.
| Measure | Ohio | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Moderate median | $4,400 | 31st |
| Hourly median | $255 | 28th |
| Implied hours | 17 | 36th |
| Simple median | $1,850 | 28th |
| Complex median | $9,900 | 31st |
$255 an hour puts Ohio between Georgia ($260) and Wyoming ($250) — not the immigration cost pairing.
No other tracked state records $255 as its median rate, so the figure identifies Ohio on its own within this dataset.
$4,400 buys 21 hours at $210, 17 at $255, 14 at $325.
| Rank | State | Median rate |
|---|---|---|
| 26 | Florida | $265 |
| 27 | Georgia | $260 |
| 28 | Ohio | $255 |
| 29 | Wyoming | $250 |
| 30 | Idaho | $245 |
The ranking barely moves across tiers — 28th at the simple tier, 31st at moderate, 31st at complex of 49 — so Ohio keeps roughly the same relative position whether the immigration is straightforward or contested.
$1,850 is 28th of 49 on a straightforward immigration, under Florida ($1,850) and over Iowa ($1,800), $50 under the $1,900 tier midpoint.
$9,900 is 31st of 49 once contested, between Indiana ($10,050) and Idaho ($9,850), $850 off the $10,750 tier midpoint.
The lower two bands run into each other — the simple tier tops out at $2,800 against a moderate floor of $2,650 — but there is a clear gap of $100 between the moderate ceiling of $7,100 and the complex floor of $7,200. In Ohio the jump into contested work is a step, not a slope.
| Tier | Ohio | Rank | Tier midpoint | Implied hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| simple | $1,850 | 28th | $1,900 | 9 |
| moderate | $4,400 | 31st | $4,750 | 17 |
| complex | $9,900 | 31st | $10,750 | 30 |
$1,850 puts Ohio 28th of 49 on straightforward matters, 3 up on its moderate position, and $50 (3%) under the $1,900 tier midpoint.
9 implied hours at $210: 53% of the moderate tier's 17, over 3-6 months.
Florida ($1,850) and Iowa ($1,800) bracket it — a $50 window.
8 states sit within three percent of the $1,850 here, against 8 at the moderate row.
$9,900 keeps Ohio at 31st on contested matters, the same place it holds on the headline figure, $850 (8%) under the $10,750 tier midpoint.
30 implied hours at $325: 176% of the moderate tier's 17, over 12-24+ months.
Indiana ($10,050) and Idaho ($9,850) bracket it — a $200 window.
2 states sit within three percent of the $9,900 here, against 8 at the moderate row.
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 26 | Wyoming | $1,900 |
| 27 | Florida | $1,850 |
| 28 | Ohio | $1,850 |
| 29 | Iowa | $1,800 |
| 30 | Kansas | $1,800 |
| Rank | State | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 29 | Nevada | $10,350 |
| 30 | Indiana | $10,050 |
| 31 | Ohio | $9,900 |
| 32 | Idaho | $9,850 |
| 33 | New Mexico | $9,500 |
In Ohio a immigration is 5th of 8 at $4,400, between Personal Injury and Bankruptcy. At 49% of Criminal Defense ($9,050).
Across practice areas Ohio ranges from 25th of 49 for Estate Planning / Probate to 35th for Real Estate Closing — a 10-place spread, with its 31st on immigration inside it.
Ohio is not equally priced in every practice area. Measured against each matter's own midpoint, Estate Planning / Probate runs 1% below its own midpoint while Real Estate Closing runs 15% below its own midpoint — a 14-point spread between the extremes.
The largest tracked median in Ohio is 4.8x the smallest, effectively the 5.1x that the typical state records: the internal spread is ordinary even where the levels are not.
0 of 7 matter types rank Ohio in the upper third, 1 in the lower, 6 between; immigration is 31st.
In percentile terms it sits at the 38th percentile of the 49 tracked states.
| Matter | Simple | Moderate | Complex | Hours | Rank | vs mid | Above |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Criminal Defense | $3,200 | $9,050 | $25,500 | 32 | 32nd | −11% | Florida |
| Divorce | $2,850 | $8,000 | $19,100 | 29 | 32nd | −6% | Florida |
| DUI / DWI | $3,300 | $6,850 | $16,700 | 27 | 33rd | −8% | Idaho |
| Personal Injury | $1,400 | $4,700 | $13,450 | — | — | −10% | — |
| Immigration | $1,850 | $4,400 | $9,900 | 17 | 31st | −7% | Missouri |
| Bankruptcy | $1,500 | $3,500 | $4,500 | 15 | 26th | −3% | Oregon |
| Estate Planning / Probate | $550 | $2,050 | $5,800 | 8 | 25th | −1% | Georgia |
| Real Estate Closing | $900 | $1,900 | $3,800 | 8 | 35th | −15% | Mississippi |
Simple tier. $1,850 ÷ $210 = about 9 hours, spread over 3-6 months at roughly $411 a month. The $2,550 step to the moderate tier is 8 more hours at that rate.
Work against price. $4,400 to $9,900 is a $5,500 step, mostly work: 13 more hours at $255 is $3,315, while moving to $325 across 30 hours adds $2,100. Work carries 61%.
Borrowing the wrong row. Wyoming ($4,400) is $0 light, Missouri ($4,400) is $0 heavy — but the $4,750 table midpoint is out by $350, 350x the neighbour error.
Both ends, in time. $2,650 is 10 hours at $255; $7,100 is 28. 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 Ohio's own recorded figures, $9,900 buys 5.4 matters at the $1,850 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 Ohiocourt'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.