LATEST NEWS ALERT: PPS Increasing Beginning March 1 - (01/09/2026)
The Department of Homeland Security has authority to make a biennial inflationary based adjustment to USCIS premium processing fees and has just published a Final Rule announcing the new fees.
Requests for Premium Processing Service (PPS) postmarked on or after March 1, 2026, must include the new fee. PPS requests for Form I-129 Petitions seeking approval for O and P visas used by international guest artists will increase from $2,805 to $2,965.
When USCIS issues updates to fees and forms, these are dependent on postmark dates. Therefore petitioners should be very careful to plan ahead, especially in light of a recent United States Postal Service rule that clarifies the date displayed on a machine-applied postmark represents the "date of the first automated processing operation" performed at a processing facility, rather than the date the mail was dropped off. Therefore, for petitioners who utilize USPS for sending petitions to USCIS, one may request a "manual" postmark at a retail counter or purchase a Certificate of Mailing (i.e. registered/certified mail).
**FILING TIP: MULTIPLE PETITIONERS RECENTLY REPORT RETURNED PACKAGES DUE TO THE I-907 BEING CONSIDERED "INCOMPLETE" WHEN THE LAST COUPLE OF PAGES ARE EXCLUDED. EVEN IF THE FINAL COUPLE OF PAGES ARE BLANK, DO BE SURE TO INCLUDE ALL PAGES OF THE FORM I-907 SO IT IS CLEAR WHETHER OR NOT YOUR PETITION INVOLVED AN INTERPRETER OR PREPARER.