US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced an increase in premium processing fees for several immigration benefits, including the H-1B visa, effective March 1. This price hike will affect
a wide range of employment-based and non-immigrant applications used by foreign professionals, including Indian nationals working or studying in the United States.
USCIS said the premium processing fee has been increased to reflect the amount of inflation from June 2023 through June 2025. The agency is acting under the USCIS Stabilisation Act, which gives the Department of Homeland Security the authority to adjust premium processing fees every two years to account for inflation.
What Are The New Rates?
Under the revised fee schedule, the premium processing fee for Form I-129 petitions for H-2B or R-1 nonimmigrant status will rise from $1,685 to $1,780.
Premium processing for all other available Form I-129 classifications- including H-1B, L-1, O-1, P-1 and TN visas- will increase from $2,805 to $2,965. $2,965 premium processing fee will apply to Form I-140 immigrant petitions for alien workers across employment-based categories, up from the previous $2,805.
For Form I-539 applications covering F-1 and F-2 students, J-1 and J-2 exchange visitors, and M-1 and M-2 vocational students, the fee will increase from $1,965 to $2,075.
For applicants seeking expedited employment authorization, USCIS said the premium processing fee for Form I-765 applications- including Optional Practical Training (OPT) and STEM-OPT classifications- will increase from $1,685 to $1,780.
USCIS emphasised that the increased revenue would be used to support agency operations. “The revenue generated by this fee increase will be used to provide premium processing services; make improvements to adjudication processes; respond to adjudication demands, including processing backlogs; and otherwise fund USCIS adjudication and naturalization services,” the notice said.
Will Indians Be Impacted?
The fee hikes are likely to impact many Indian professionals, students and employers, as Indians make up a larger share of H-1B, L-1, and other such applications.
Premium processing is entirely optional, and is mainly used by employers and applicants who want quicker adjudication timelines in cases such as job changes, visa extensions, travel plans or get clarity on their status faster.
Indian nationals are the largest beneficiaries of US employment-based visas, particularly the H-1B programme, and also account for a substantial portion of the employment-based green card backlog.
Optional Practical Training and STEM-OPT extensions are widely used by Indian students graduating from US universities as a bridge to longer-term work visas H-1B.
