USCIS premium processing fees rise from 01/03/2026

The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has finalised a rule raising premium processing fees for certain immigration forms. The new fees apply to any request postmarked on or after 01/03/2026.

The rule will be published in the Federal Register and applies to all forms currently eligible for premium processing through United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

Why USCIS is raising the fees

The increase is tied to inflation and stems from federal law requiring DHS to adjust premium processing fees every two years.

USCIS based the new fees on an inflation increase of 5.72 percent, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers from June 2023 to June 2025.

Premium processing fees were last raised in 02/2024, after USCIS extended premium processing to additional benefit types. The 03/2026 update is similar in scale to that increase and introduces no new premium processing categories and no change to processing time commitments.

The new premium processing fees

With effect from 01/03/2026, USCIS will reject any premium processing request filed with an incorrect fee.

Form I-129 for the H-2B and R-1 classifications will rise from US$1,685 to US$1,780.

Form I-129 for all other eligible classifications, including H-1B, L-1, O-1, TN and E-3, will rise from US$2,805 to US$2,965.

Form I-140, the employment-based immigrant petition, will rise from US$2,805 to US$2,965.

Form I-539, the application to extend or change non-immigrant status for the F, J and M categories, will rise from US$1,965 to US$2,075.

Form I-765, the application for employment authorisation in the OPT and STEM OPT categories, will rise from US$1,685 to US$1,780.

All premium processing requests must continue to be filed on Form I-907, and only for benefit types specifically designated by USCIS as eligible for premium processing.

What mobility teams need to know

This is an inflation-based adjustment, not a change to eligibility rules or adjudication standards.

The new fees apply to any Form I-907 postmarked on or after 01/03/2026.

As standard processing times lengthen and adjudication uncertainty grows, premium processing remains an important tool for reducing status risk and obtaining timely decisions.

Recommended next steps for employers

Employers planning 2026 filings may need to revisit their immigration budgets as premium processing costs rise.

In practice, many companies rely on premium processing to manage start dates, avoid gaps in work authorisation, or reduce travel-related risk for key staff, which makes avoiding the higher fees difficult in certain cases.

Companies planning early 2026 filings may also wish to review their timelines now to see whether any cases could be filed before the 01/03 compliance date.

USCIS says the higher fees are expected to generate around US$77,000,000 a year, which the agency says will be used to support adjudications, address backlogs and maintain premium processing service levels.