USCIS Increases the Cost of Premium Processing; It Has Not Yet Broadened Eligibility
Premium Processing allows petitioners to receive an expedited review of their petition within 15 days of receipt. Without this premium service, employment-based petitions can take almost a year in some cases to be adjudicated. USCIS gave two business days notice that the fee of I-907, Request for Premium Processing Service is increasing from $1,400 to $2,500 effective October 19, 2020 for most eligible petitions. An exception to this significant increase is for H-2B and R-1 petitions - the fee for those petitions is increasing from $1,440 to $1,500.
USCIS previously announced that it may increase the fees and broaden the type of petitions/applications that are eligible to use premium processing. This broadening of eligibility for petitions would also include an increase in the time frame for premium processing from the current 15 days to up to 45 days, depending on filing category. This proposed expansion was especially significant as USCIS’ initial proposal included the ability to use premium processing service applications for employment authorization. Currently, employment authorization applications can take up to 7 months or longer to be processed. Additionally, applications for dependents of principal beneficiaries and applications for employment authorization could be eligible for premium processing under the proposed expansion.
However, USCIS has only announced the fee increase but has not made any further announcements regarding the implementation of the expansion of premium processing service to other petitions and applications. We will continue to update our clients when USCIS makes further announcements related to premium processing.
