Premium processing fee for H-1B visa to cost more starting Monday

According to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services’s (USCIS) statement, premium processing fees for H-1B visas will become costlier from October 19.

The USCIS has decided to increase the processing fee in the view of a new bill passed in the US Senate which permitted the immigration agency to charge more for premium processing of visas and authorized them to fast-track the process. The new bill also allows to process more visas containing employment authorization documents and certain green card categories.

USCIS depends entirely on fee income and has been asking for a support after a drop in the visa processing on account of the Covid-19 pandemic. According to the reports, this new processing may help the USCIS to raise the income and avoid a lay off.

Premium processing of H-1B visa to cost more

The premium processing fee amount for categories where it is already available, like H-1B and L-1 visas, has been increased from $1,440 to up to $2,500. The fee charged for the normal processing of visas remains unchanged,reports the Economic Times.

H1B visas are considered work visas and are allotted to the companies and employers based in the United States to hire graduate-level workers for a temporary time period in specialty occupations such as IT, finance, science, engineering and etc. H1 visa also allows the partners and children under the age of 21 to accompany them to the United States on an H4 visa. It is a non immigrant visa. The H1B visa is issued in the name of the employer and not the employee, the report added.