On December 28, 2023, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a Final Rule that will increase the filing fee for USCIS’s Premium Processing Service, effective Monday, February 26, 2024.
The current fees were set by Congress in the USCIS Stabilization Act, which was signed into law on October 1, 2020.The Act also gave DHS authority to adjust premium processing fees on a biennial basis in accordance with inflation as calculated by the Consumer Price Index.This is the first use of that authority. Using the period of June 2021 through June 2023, DHS calculated a 12.3% increase in the Consumer Price Index; the new premium processing fees are increased by approximately the same percentage, rounded to the nearest $5 increment.
The revenue generated by the increased fees will be used to provide premium processing services; make improvements to adjudications processes; respond to adjudication demands, including reducing benefit request processing backlogs; and otherwise fund USCIS adjudication and naturalization services.
The new premium processing fees will be required for all benefit requests postmarked (or courier-receipted) on or after Monday, February 26, 2024.T&S will begin adjusting client fee schedules in mid-February and will endeavor to file all existing requests by Friday, February 23rd.
