On 20 January 2026 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a final rule that raises premium-processing fees for almost every form type eligible for the expedited service. Under the agency’s inflation-adjustment authority, the Form I-907 surcharge climbs roughly 6–7 percent: the H-1B/L-1/O-1 and most I-129 classifications jump from $2,805 to $2,965, while I-140 immigrant-worker petitions will cost the same amount. The smaller H-2B/R-1 category rises to $1,780, as does premium processing for certain OPT-related I-765 employment-authorization applications.
The filing fee must accompany any I-907 post-marked on or after 1 March 2026; USCIS will reject packages that use the old amount, potentially derailing time-sensitive H-1B transfers or green-card upgrades. Processing times (15 calendar days for most case types) remain unchanged, but the agency reiterated that the clock starts only when it issues an official receipt—not on the FedEx delivery date.
If your HR or mobility team needs extra hands navigating these new USCIS fees, VisaHQ can help. Their U.S. platform (https://www.visahq.com/united-states/) offers transparent pricing tools, document checklists, and real-time tracking that simplify premium-processing submissions and keep filings on schedule.
![USCIS Announces Across-the-Board Premium-Processing Fee Increase Effective 1 March]()
For employers, the budget impact is immediate. A company filing 50 H-1B change-of-employer petitions with premium service will pay an extra $8,000 compared with today’s fees. Counsel recommend completing any discretionary upgrades—such as converting long-pending I-140s—before 29 February. The increase also complicates cost-sharing policies: many employers who previously covered premium fees may now shift some or all of the cost to employees, triggering wage-recharacterisation questions for H-1B workers.
USCIS last raised premium-processing fees in February 2024. The agency says the new revenue will fund backlog-reduction initiatives and IT modernisation, though stakeholders note that routine premium filings now subsidise broader operations. Looking ahead, USCIS can repeat this inflation adjustment every two years; mobility managers should expect the next hike in early 2028.
Bottom line: file any critical premium-processing requests before 1 March, update internal cost matrices, and communicate the new pricing to foreign national employees so there are no surprises when legal-fee invoices arrive.
The filing fee must accompany any I-907 post-marked on or after 1 March 2026; USCIS will reject packages that use the old amount, potentially derailing time-sensitive H-1B transfers or green-card upgrades. Processing times (15 calendar days for most case types) remain unchanged, but the agency reiterated that the clock starts only when it issues an official receipt—not on the FedEx delivery date.
If your HR or mobility team needs extra hands navigating these new USCIS fees, VisaHQ can help. Their U.S. platform (https://www.visahq.com/united-states/) offers transparent pricing tools, document checklists, and real-time tracking that simplify premium-processing submissions and keep filings on schedule.
For employers, the budget impact is immediate. A company filing 50 H-1B change-of-employer petitions with premium service will pay an extra $8,000 compared with today’s fees. Counsel recommend completing any discretionary upgrades—such as converting long-pending I-140s—before 29 February. The increase also complicates cost-sharing policies: many employers who previously covered premium fees may now shift some or all of the cost to employees, triggering wage-recharacterisation questions for H-1B workers.
USCIS last raised premium-processing fees in February 2024. The agency says the new revenue will fund backlog-reduction initiatives and IT modernisation, though stakeholders note that routine premium filings now subsidise broader operations. Looking ahead, USCIS can repeat this inflation adjustment every two years; mobility managers should expect the next hike in early 2028.
Bottom line: file any critical premium-processing requests before 1 March, update internal cost matrices, and communicate the new pricing to foreign national employees so there are no surprises when legal-fee invoices arrive.
