USCIS Increases Premium Processing Fee

USCIS Increases Premium Processing Fee

On Friday, October 16, 2020, US Department of Homeland Security published an Announcement indicating the fee for “premium processing” of applications by US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will rise from $1440 to $2500 effective October 19, 2020.

USCIS’ increase in the Premium Processing fee is required by the Continuing Appropriations Act, 2021 and Other Extensions Act, Pub. L. No. 116-159, signed into law on Oct. 1. While Pub. L. No. 116-159 also gives USCIS the ability to expand premium processing to additional application form types and benefit requests, USCIS indicated it “is not yet taking that action”

The Premium Processing fee increase is separate from the other USCIS form updates and fee increases currently on hold due to a lawsuit.

Additional information related to the new premium processing fee and applications at MIT is available on the MIT International Scholars Office (ISchO) website.