USCIS Premium Processing Fee Increase Effective October 19th, 2020

By now, you must have heard that USCIS's new fee increase was blocked by Congress in late September. The scheduled new fee schedule was set to go into effect on October 2nd and it didn't happen. However,  Congress now has cleared USCIS to raise fees for immigration premium processing services. USCIS will also possibly expand the number of immigration categories that the premium processing services cover.

What is Premium Processing Services?

Premium processing services give the immigrants a chance to pay for a faster service. Basically, you pay additional fees and your case will get to be reviewed and processed before the others who don't pay for the service. 

What is the New Premium Processing Fee?

For case types that are currently charging $1,400, the expected new fee is at $2,500 ($1,500 for H-2B and R visas). We can also expect to see premium processing services available for additional categories including:

• All employment-based nonimmigrant petitions (I-129s)
• Most employment-based immigrant petitions (I-140s)
• All applications to change nonimmigrant status or extend stay (I-529s)
• All employment authorization applications (I-765s)

**Updates on October 16th, USCIS announced that effective on October 19th, 2020, the premium processing fee for currently designated case types will increase from $1,440 to $2,500. Regarding the case types for which it can provide premium processing services, USCIS has not yet made any changes. Learn more here!

Before you go, don't forget to read about my personal experience: DIY How I Applied for My Green Card with No RFE!