By Jan Pederson

Immigration Update: USCIS Steep Fee Hikes Coming Shortly

The die is cast and USCIS Premium Processing Fees will spike on February 26, 2024.  Clients are urged to make sure Premium Processing requests are in by February 25, 2024.  The premium processing fee is optional; but most clients opt to pay it as the price of near certainty that USCIS will issue a decision within 15 business days of filing.  The fee will increase to $2,805 for most employment-based nonimmigrant visa petitions, such as E-1, E-2, E-3, H-1B, H-3, L-1A, L-1B, LZ, O-1, O-2, P-1, P-1S, P-2, P-2S, P-3, P-3S, Q-1, TN-1, and TN-2.  The Premium processing fee for I-539 applications to extend/change nonimmigrant status will increase to $1,965 for the following classifications, F-1, F-2, M-1, M-2, J-1, J-2, E-1, E-2, E-3, L-2, H-4, O-3, P-4, and R-2.  The USCIS will increase the Premium Processing Fee for I-140 employment petitions to $2,805 as well.

More fee increases are coming on April 1, 2024.  The sticker shock remains.  Some of visa categories such as many H-1B will increase by 70% on April 1, 2024.  The largest fee increase is for I-526/526E Investor petitions which will increase by 204% for a fee of $11,160.00 on April 1. It is ironic this is happening on April Fool’s Day.

The new fee chart is available here: USCIS.gov

We welcome consultations on the fee increase and would encourage all filings be made prior to April 1, 2024.   It is noted that nonimmigrant petitions such as H-1Bs can be filed six months in advance of the anticipated start date. Please contact Corey at legalassistant@wcslaw.com to schedule an appointment with our expert immigration attorneys.