Effective October 19, 2020, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) increased fees for premium processing as required by the Emergency Stopgap USCIS Stabilization Act, which was part of the Continuing Appropriations Act signed into law on October 1. The new law requires USCIS to establish and collect additional premium processing fees, and to use those additional funds for expanded purposes.

The fee for premium processing increases from $1,440 to $2,500 for all filings except those from petitioners filing Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker, requesting H-2B or R-1 nonimmigrant status. The premium processing fee for those petitioners increases from $1,440 to $1,500.

Any Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing, postmarked on or after October 19, 2020, must include the new fee amount. For filings sent by commercial courier (such as UPS, FedEx, or DHL), the postmark date is the date reflected on the courier receipt.

USCIS said the new law also gives the agency the ability to expand premium processing to additional forms and benefit requests, but it is not yet taking that action. “Any expansion of premium processing to other forms will be implemented as provided in the legislation,” USCIS said.

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