Pabian Law clients,
I hope all is well. On Friday, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a final rule that increases premium processing fees (expedite fees) for H-2B visa petitions and other nonimmigrant and immigrant visa petitions (the “Fee Rule”). The new premium processing fees go into effect on March 1st of this year. Please note: this Fee Rule impacts H-2B and some nonimmigrant visas as well as certain immigrant visa categories required for employment-based green card petitions.
As a reminder, premium processing fees are additional payments that provide expedited processing of petition filings. Premium Processing petitions are guaranteed faster decisions (fifteen (15) business days). USCIS adjusts these fees every two (2) years to account for inflation. The revenue generated by this fee increase is used to provide premium processing services and make improvements to adjudication processes, including processing backlogs. We file all H-2B visa petitions as Premium Processing.
The fee increases
Overall, the fee increases are minimal. Importantly, H-2B visa petitions only have a small increase of $95 while other visa categories have slightly higher increases. This continues to show the government’s ongoing understanding of the importance of H-2B visas to businesses nationally.
The increases are summarized in the chart below:
Next Steps for Pabian Law Clients
We will be reaching out to Pabian Law clients that have matters that we already invoiced for and who will likely be impacted in the coming weeks to adjust invoicing for these new fees. As stated above, the new fees go into effect on March 1st.
Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions.
Thank you,
Keith and the Pabian Law Team