On Oct. 30, 2019, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it is increasing the fee to request premium processing for certain employment-based petitions.  Beginning on Nov. 29, 2019, The premium processing fee will increase to $1,440 from the current fee of $1,410 for Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker, and Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker.

Premium processing, a service offered for certain petitions, requires USCIS to adjudicate a petition (i.e., approve, deny, or send a request for evidence) within 15 calendar days. The increase is based upon the percentage change in the Consumer Price Index-Urban Consumers since the premium processing fee of $1,225 was introduced. Premium processing is available for many employment-based petitions, such as H-1B, L-1, TN, O-1 and some I-140 petitions.