The premium processing fee would be raised to $1,440 beginning November 29, 2019.
All those who may be contemplating their visa renewals, or new visa applications through premium processing may now have to shell out a few more dollars for the service. The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services announced Wednesday that beginning November 29, it is adjusting the fee to request premium processing for certain employment-based petitions.
The USCIS justified the $30 increase to be based on consumer price index increase.
According to the announcement on the USCIS website, the premium processing fee will increase to $1,440 from the current fee of $1,410 for Form I-129, Petition for a Non-Immigrant Worker and Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker.
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“This increase, which is done in accordance with the Immigration and Nationality Act, reflects the full amount of inflation from the implementation of the premium processing fee in June 2001 though August 2019 based on the Consumer Price Index for all Urban Consumers (CPI-U),†the agency said.
It may be noted that the last fee hike for premium processing was done last year in 2018. It was announced last year in the federal register that the premium processing fee was increased from $1,225 to $1,410.
Premium processing is an optional service for petitioners filing for Form I-129 and I-140. The system allows the applications to be reviewed in a fast track way where the applications can be processed within 15 days for the additional fee. The premium processing fee is paid over and above the actual petition filing fee.
The new premium processing fee would apply to all requests mailed or filed on or after November 29, 2019.
Immigration lawyers across the country hope that the new price increase would enable the USCIS to increase staffing and check the recent long waits that are being experienced by employment-based visa seekers.