The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has increased its premium processing fees, effective October 19, 2020. With reference to the USCIS’s news release [link] on the premium processing fee increase, we will examine the new fees for requests for premium processing.

The new fee for the Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing, is $2,500. The previous fee was $1,440. However, the $2,500 does not apply in the case of a petitioner filing the Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing, with respect to a Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker, requesting either H2B or R1 nonimmigrant status. The Form I-907 fee for requesting premium processing of a petition requesting either H2B or R1 status is $1,500 going forward, a smaller increase from the prior $1,440 fee.

The USCIS makes clear that the new premium processing fee applies to any Form I-907 postmarked on or after October 19, 2020. Any Form I-907 filed with the incorrect fee will be returned along with the incorrect fee payment.

It is worth noting that the premium processing fee increase is a separate and distinct issue from the generalized fee changes for USCIS forms announced on August 3, 2020 [see article], which are the subject of ongoing litigation. As the USCIS explains in its news release, the premium processing fee increase is provided for in recent legislation passed by Congress and signed by the President into law.

We discuss premium processing requests in two separate articles on site: first for Forms I-129 [see article] and second for Forms I-140 [see article].