As of February 26, 2024, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has increased its fees for Premium Processing services. These increases require those filing to account for these increased premium processing fees before filing for faster service.

Congress granted the Department of Homeland Security the authority to provide premium processing services for eligible immigration-related applications. This power comes from the Emergency Stopgap USCIS Stabilization Act. These fees would help afford the expenses of providing the services and improving infrastructure. This Act also granted the authority to increase these fees within certain limits, including biennial increases to reflect inflation.

Premium processing services’ fees remained unchanged for three years after the USCIS Stabilization Act passed. However, this changed on December 27, 2023. A final rule raised the fees for premium processing services to account for the significant inflation in recent fiscal years. These fee increases took effect on February 26, 2024.

The increases to premium processing fees have included:

• Form I-129 Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker: Previously, these fees were $1,500 for those in a H-2B and R-1 status and $2,500 for all other available classifications. These fees will now be $1,685 for those in a H-2B and R-1 status and $2,805 for all other classifications.
• Form I-140 Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker: The premium processing fee was previously $2,500 for employment-based classifications including E11, E12, E21 (non-NIW), E31, E32, EW3, E13 and E21 (NIW). The fee is now $2,805.
• Form I-539, Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status: This fee was previously $1,750 for the Form I-539 classifications F-1, F-2, M-1, M-2, J-1, J-2, E-1, E-2, E-3, L-2, H-4, O-3, P-4, and R-2. It is now $1,965.
• Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization: Premium processing for this crucial document has been available to certain F-1 students with categories C03A, C03B, and C03C for $1,500. The fee for this process has increased to $1,685.

With the new fees, all applications must include the correct fees during submission. Failure to adhere to the new prices will end in rejection. However, applications postmarked before February 26, 2024, can include the previous fee structure. Employers must comply with these increased fees when applying for premium processing services with USCIS. 

Similarly, they should ensure compliance with other regulatory requirements, including the employment eligibility verification (Form I-9) process. One way to ensure this process remains compliant is to use an electronic I-9 management tool. This tool can help throughout every stage of the process and help ensure uniform compliance with every form.

Increase your hiring and verification efficiency today with I-9 Compliance automation.

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