Premium Processing Update

jmguzman

**UPDATE** On October 19, 2020, USCIS raised the premium processing fee to $2,500 for Forms I-140 and I-129. The law that increased this fee also expanded premium processing to other types of cases and benefits, but as of December 21, 2020, USCIS has not indicated when it plans to implement this expansion.

 

**UPDATE** On May 29, USCIS released a schedule of a phased return to premium processing (which was suspended without warning on March 20) for many petitions, including H-1B petitions and I-140 immigrant petitions! Below is the currently proposed schedule – but please note that these dates are subject to change by USCIS at any time:

June 1: USCIS starts accepting premium processing requests for most I-140 petitions (but still not National Interest Waiver petitions)
June 8: USCIS starts accepting premium processing requests for cap exempt H-1B petitions that were already filed before June 8 (we are a cap exempt institution, so this applies to NC State); and requests for premium processing for all other non-H-1B petitions (such as E-3, O-1 and TN) there were also filed before June 8
June 15: USCIS starts accepting premium processing requests filed concurrently with cap exempt H-1B petitions (new, change of status, amendment, extension, or change of employer petitions)
June 22: USCIS starts accepting premium processing requests filed concurrently with other nonimmigrant petitions, such as E-3, O-1 and TN, among others; also cap subject H-1B petitions

 

**October 30, 2019: USCIS announced that it will increase the premium processing fee from $1,410 to $1,440 on December 2, 2019 for all I-129 forms (which includes all H-1B petitions, among others), and for all I-140 petitions, which is a required step for all employment-based green card processes. This increase reflects inflation since the last time the fee was increased in 2018.