What Happened

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has finalized a rule increasing U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) premium processing fees. The new fees take effect March 1, 2026, and will apply to all Form I-907 (Request for Premium Processing Service) requests postmarked on or after that date.

This is a routine, congressionally mandated adjustment—not a policy overhaul. The USCIS Stabilization Act of 2020 requires DHS to update premium processing fees every two years based on the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), which tracks inflation across the general public.

What Is Premium Processing?

Premium processing is an optional, expedited service that allows employers or petitioners to pay an extra fee on top of the standard filing fee to get a faster decision on certain immigration benefit requests. It is widely used for H-1B petitions, L-1 visas, O-1 visas, employment-based green card petitions, and other work-related immigration filings.

Without premium processing, decisions can take months. With it, USCIS commits to acting within a specific timeframe (typically 15 business days for most petition types).

How Much Are the New Fees?

The rule adjusts fees to reflect CPI-U inflation from June 2023 through June 2025. The previous adjustment (effective February 26, 2024) had already raised fees from their pre-2024 levels. The current increases follow the same inflationary formula:

  • The prior fee tiers were $1,685, $1,965, and $2,805, set in the February 2024 adjustment.
  • The new fees reflect an additional two years of cumulative inflation on top of those amounts.

The exact new dollar amounts are specified in the regulatory text of the final rule. Petitioners should check the USCIS website or the full rule text for the precise updated figures before filing on or after March 1, 2026.

Who Is Affected?

Anyone who uses premium processing for employment-based immigration filings will see higher costs. This includes:

  • H-1B petitioners and their employers, who commonly use premium processing to get faster approvals for new hires or extensions
  • L-1 visa petitioners seeking expedited decisions on intracompany transfers
  • O-1 visa petitioners for individuals of extraordinary ability
  • Employers filing I-140 petitions (immigrant worker petitions, including National Interest Waivers) that have been designated for premium processing
  • F-1 students on OPT whose employer may file a cap-subject H-1B petition with premium processing

This fee increase does not affect standard (non-premium) filing fees, which were last updated separately in 2024.

Why Is This Happening?

Congress built a biennial inflation adjustment into the USCIS Stabilization Act specifically to ensure premium processing fees do not erode in real value over time. This is the second such adjustment under that law. The first was effective February 26, 2024. DHS is simply following the statutory formula—there is no new policy discretion involved.

Key Deadline to Remember

The compliance date matches the effective date: March 1, 2026. Any Form I-907 postmarked before March 1 may use the current (pre-increase) fees. Any request postmarked on or after March 1 must include the new, higher fee or it will likely be rejected.

If you or your employer is planning to file a premium processing request in the near term, consider whether filing before March 1 makes financial sense based on your timeline.

What Should You Do?

  • Employers and HR teams: Update your immigration budget to account for higher premium processing costs starting March 1, 2026.
  • Employees with pending or upcoming petitions: Ask your employer or immigration attorney whether your filing will be submitted before or after the fee increase takes effect.
  • Check USCIS.gov: Confirm the exact new fee amounts for your specific petition type before submitting Form I-907.