The Trump Administration signed the Continuing Appropriations Act, 2021 and Other Extensions Act on October 1 into law. The new law demanded that USCIS must increase fees for premium processing. Essentially, premium processing is a service that provides expedited processing for Form I-120, Petition for Nonimmigrant Worker, and Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker. If you are an applicant, you will have to pay a service fee to receive premium processing, which essentially guarantees processing in 15 calendar days. If USCIS does not process the petition within those 15 days, you will receive a refund for your premium processing fee.
That being said, the Emergency Stopgap USCIS Stabilization Act was included in the new law, which essentially states that USCIS must collect additional premium processing fees to use additional funds for expanded purposes. Now, for example, Form I-907 was raised to a $2,500 fee from $1,440. That being said, if you are a petitioner filing Form I-129, requesting H-2B or R-1 nonimmigrant status, your fee will only increase from $1,440 to $1,500. This new law took effect on October 19, 2020, and as such, and Form I-907 postmarked on or after October 19 must have the new fee amount. If you did not include the correct filing fee, USCIS will reject your form and you will be returned your fee.
Pub. L. No. 116-159 also states that USCIS can expand premium processing to other forms and benefit requests, though USCIS has not done so as of now. There is no telling how exactly this new increase in processing fees will affect certain nonimmigrants and petitioners, however, if you believe this may impact you, our experienced Wisconsin immigration attorneys are here to help. Give us a call today.
Contact our experienced Wisconsin firm
John Sesini is an experienced immigration attorney with offices in Green Bay and Milwaukee Wisconsin. Our firm understands what is at stake when it comes to immigration law matters, which is why If you have any questions, you should not hesitate to contact the Sesini Law Group, S.C. and schedule your initial consultation with our firm today.