New Premium Processing Fee: Amounts by Form, I-907, and Limits

USCIS premium processing fees rose on March 1, 2026, and now run from $1,780 to $2,965 depending on the form and visa classification. Any Form I-907 postmarked on or after that date must include the new amount, or USCIS will reject and return the filing.¹ The increase is roughly 5.7% over the amounts that had been in place since February 2024.

Current Premium Processing Fees by Form

The premium fee is always paid on top of the regular filing fee for the underlying petition. It is a separate payment, not a bundled one.

Form I-129 for H-2B or R-1 workers: $1,780
Form I-129 for all other nonimmigrant worker classifications, including H-1B, L-1, O-1, E, P, and TN: $2,965
Form I-140 employment-based immigrant petitions: $2,965
Form I-539 change or extension of status for F, J, or M classifications: $2,075
Form I-765 employment authorization for OPT and STEM OPT: $1,780

For comparison, the schedule in effect from February 26, 2024 through February 28, 2026 charged $2,805 for I-129 and I-140, $1,965 for I-539, and $1,685 for I-765 and the I-129 H-2B/R-1 subcategory.² Submitting an old amount now will get your filing bounced back.

What the Fee Actually Buys

Premium processing guarantees that USCIS will take some kind of adjudicative action within a set number of business days. Speed of response, not outcome. The agency can approve, deny, issue a request for evidence, issue a notice of intent to deny, or open a fraud investigation, and any of those counts as meeting the deadline.³

Three windows apply, depending on what you filed:

15 business days for most Form I-129 and Form I-140 classifications
30 business days for Form I-765 employment authorization and Form I-539 change-of-status requests in F, J, and M categories
45 business days for Form I-140 petitions filed in the EB-1C multinational executive and manager category, and for EB-2 national interest waivers

The 45-day window catches some applicants off guard. If you are filing an EB-1C or EB-2 NIW case and budgeting your timeline around a 15-day turnaround, you have the wrong number.³

What Happens After a Request for Evidence

If USCIS issues an RFE inside the premium window, the clock stops. Issuing the RFE counts as the required action, so no refund is triggered. When you submit your response, a fresh premium clock of the same length begins, giving USCIS another 15, 30, or 45 business days to take the next action.³

Fraud Investigations Suspend the Guarantee

USCIS can keep the fee and blow past the deadline if it opens a fraud or misrepresentation investigation tied to your benefit request. In that scenario the guaranteed timeframe effectively stops applying.⁴

When USCIS Misses the Deadline

If USCIS takes no adjudicative action within the applicable window and no fraud investigation is open, the premium fee is refunded. Only the premium fee is refunded, not the underlying filing fee, and the case keeps moving under normal processing timelines.³

USCIS issues some refunds automatically. If the deadline has passed and no refund has arrived, submit a written request to the office handling your case with “ATTN: Refund Request” in the subject line, along with the date you filed for premium processing, the date USCIS received the fee, and any decision or action dates on record.

Who Can Use Premium Processing

Only four forms qualify. Within those forms, only certain classifications are covered.

Form I-129 covers the full slate of nonimmigrant worker categories: H-1B, L-1A and L-1B, O-1, E, P, TN, Q, H-2B, H-3, and R-1. Form I-140 covers every employment-based immigrant category, including EB-1, EB-2 (with national interest waivers), and EB-3. Form I-539 premium processing is limited to applicants changing or extending status in the F-1, F-2, J-1, J-2, M-1, and M-2 classifications. Form I-765 premium processing is limited to OPT and STEM OPT employment authorization.¹

How to File Form I-907

Request premium processing by filing Form I-907, either as a PDF download or through the USCIS online filing system. You can file it with the underlying petition or after the petition is already pending. If you file it afterward, you need the receipt number from the pending case.

The form asks for the petitioner or applicant’s full legal name, a mailing address, the type of benefit request, and the receipt number if applicable. All information must match the original petition exactly. If an attorney or accredited representative is filing on your behalf, a completed Form G-28 must be included.⁴

USCIS requires a handwritten signature. Stamped or typed names are not accepted, and a missing signature means the request comes back with the fee. Photocopied, faxed, or scanned copies of an original handwritten signature are fine.⁴

Online vs. Paper Filing

Online filing of Form I-907 is available for F-1 students filing OPT or STEM OPT employment authorization requests, and for applicants requesting a change of status to F-1, F-2, M-1, M-2, J-1, or J-2 through Form I-539. USCIS keeps expanding online availability, so check the “Forms Available to File Online” page before assuming your category qualifies.³

Paper submissions go to the USCIS lockbox or service center listed in the filing instructions for your underlying petition. If Form I-907 is filed alongside that petition, both go in the same package, but the premium fee is paid separately from the base filing fee.⁵

How to Pay

USCIS no longer accepts personal checks, business checks, money orders, or cashier’s checks for paper filings, except under a narrow exemption for filers without access to banking or electronic payment systems, or for whom electronic payment would cause undue hardship.⁶

For paper filings, pay with a credit, debit, or prepaid card by completing Form G-1450 and placing it on top of the submission package. You can also authorize a direct debit from a U.S. bank account using Form G-1650. Online filers pay through the USCIS system at the point of submission.⁷

What Premium Processing Does Not Do

Paying the premium fee buys faster adjudication. It does not buy a favorable decision. USCIS applies the same legal standards to a premium case as to any other, and a weak petition denied in 15 business days is still a denied petition.

For employment-based immigrant petitions on Form I-140, premium processing also has no effect on your priority date or your place in the visa bulletin queue. Even with a quick I-140 approval, you still wait for a visa number based on your preference category and country of chargeability. The premium fee buys speed at the adjudication stage, and nothing beyond it.

1
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS to Increase Premium Processing Fees
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eCFR. 8 CFR 106.2 – Fees
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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. How Do I Request Premium Processing
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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Form I-907 Instructions
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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-907, Request for Premium Processing Service
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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Filing Fees
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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. G-1450, Authorization for Credit Card Transactions