Premium Processing for Immigrant Workers to Increase with Inflation

Employers seeking to hire foreign nationals will need to factor new premium processing fee increases into their immigration budget planning this year.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced Dec. 28, 2023, that the filing fee increases for Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing, will go into effect on Feb. 26.

The increase in premium processing fees applies to all eligible forms and categories to adjust for inflation from June 2021 through June 2023, as determined by the Consumer Price Index.

USCIS said that going forward the agency plans to increase premium processing fees every two years reflecting inflation.

“Premium processing is an optional service available for some types of immigration benefits,” said Luca Vais-Ottosen, a partner in DeWitt’s Madison, Wis., office. “This service allows applicants and petitioners to request a faster service for a fee.”

Premium processing often speeds up the process considerably, she said. “Some applications or petitions can take several months or even more than a year to go through the system under regular processing. However, with premium processing USCIS usually acts on a qualifying petition or application in 15 to 45 calendar days, depending on the type of application.”

There are four types of immigration forms that can be accompanied by a premium processing request. Those forms and their fee increases are as follows:

• Form I-129, petition for temporary workers. Premium processing fees for all Form I-129 requests for classifications other than H-2B will increase from $2,500 to $2,805. Premium processing fees for H-2B requests will increase from $1,500 to $1,685.
• Form I-140, petition for employment-based permanent residency. Premium processing fees for Form I-140 requests will increase from $2,500 to $2,805.
• Form I-539, application to extend or change temporary immigration status. Premium processing fees for Form I-539 requests will increase from $1,750 to $1,965.
• Form I-765, application for employment authorization. Premium processing fees for Form I-765 requests will increase from $1,500 to $1,685.

Premium processing fees were last raised in 2020. In January 2023, USCIS issued a proposed fee rule that sought to make significant increases in the cost of filing for multiple employment-based immigration petitions and applications, as well as increasing the fee for registering for the annual H-1B cap lottery. That proposal remains under review and is scheduled for publication by April, according to the agency’s most recent regulatory agenda.