Immigration News
February 2026 Fee Updates for Immigration Petitions
Step-by-step guidance on building a winning case with evidence examples and strategic considerations.
Overview of the USCIS Fee Schedule Effective in February 2026
The current USCIS fee schedule, which went into effect on April 1, 2024, remains in force through February 2026. This fee structure was the product of a comprehensive cost-recovery review that USCIS conducted over several years to address a structural funding shortfall in the agency's operations. The 2024 rule increased fees across most petition and application categories, in some cases by substantial percentages, and introduced a new Asylum Program Fee surcharge applicable to certain employer-filed petitions. Understanding the full fee structure is essential for immigration attorneys, corporate HR departments, and individual petitioners who need to budget accurately for visa filings.
For O-1 petitions filed on Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker, the base filing fee is $730 for regular processing as of February 2026. This base fee covers one beneficiary and must be paid regardless of whether premium processing is also elected. The base fee is the same whether the petition is filed by a U.S. employer, a U.S. agent, or a sponsoring organization. It is important to note that the I-129 is used for multiple nonimmigrant worker categories—H-1B, H-2A, H-2B, H-3, L, O, P, Q, and R—and the base fee is the same across these categories under the current schedule, simplifying the fee calculation for attorneys who regularly handle multiple visa types.
Petitioners who require expedited adjudication must also pay the premium processing fee, which stands at $2,805 for O-1 petitions in February 2026. This fee is paid on Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing Service, either concurrently with the I-129 or separately as an upgrade to a pending petition. The I-907 fee is separate from and in addition to the I-129 base fee, meaning that a petitioner electing premium processing for an O-1 petition must budget a minimum of $3,535 in USCIS filing fees before any attorney fees, courier costs, or document preparation expenses. These figures do not include any state-level fees, consular processing fees, or costs associated with obtaining supporting documents such as credential evaluations or certified translations.
The Asylum Program Fee Surcharge: Who Pays and Who Is Exempt
The Asylum Program Fee is a surcharge added to Form I-129 petitions filed by employers, designed to fund USCIS's asylum adjudication operations. Under the April 2024 fee rule, the standard Asylum Program Fee for employer-filed I-129 petitions is $600. This surcharge applies to most employer petitioners, including those filing O-1, H-1B, L-1, and other employer-sponsored nonimmigrant categories. When combined with the base I-129 fee, the total USCIS filing fee for a standard O-1 petition without premium processing is $1,330 ($730 base + $600 Asylum Program Fee). With premium processing, the total rises to $4,135 ($730 + $600 + $2,805).
Small employers are eligible for a reduced Asylum Program Fee. Under the fee rule, a 'small employer' is defined as an organization with 25 or fewer full-time equivalent employees. Small employers pay a reduced Asylum Program Fee of $300 instead of $600, reducing the base filing cost to $1,030 and the premium processing total to $3,835. Nonprofit organizations that are eligible for a fee exemption under IRS Section 501(c)(3), and that are engaged in certain qualifying activities, may be fully exempt from the Asylum Program Fee. Petitioners claiming the small employer discount or the nonprofit exemption must include documentation supporting the claim—such as the most recent IRS Form 941 showing headcount or a copy of the IRS determination letter—with the petition.
The Asylum Program Fee does not apply to individual petitioners or self-petitioners in categories that allow self-petition (such as EB-1A or EB-2 NIW applications), nor does it apply to certain government entities. For O-1 petitions, the fee applies when the petitioner is a business entity that employs or uses the services of the O-1 beneficiary. An individual artist who is self-petitioning through an agent arrangement is technically not an employer in the traditional sense, but the agent—as the petitioner of record on the I-129—is generally treated as the employer for fee purposes. Practitioners should carefully review the petitioner's organizational structure and headcount before completing the fee calculation to ensure that the correct fee is remitted and that any applicable exemption is properly claimed.
Budgeting Strategies for Immigration Petitions in 2026
Effective immigration budget planning for 2026 requires accounting for multiple fee categories across the likely petition timeline. For a beneficiary who is being sponsored for an initial O-1 status, the fee budget should include the base I-129 fee, the Asylum Program Fee (unless exempt), the premium processing fee if timing is critical, and USCIS biometrics fees if applicable. Beyond USCIS fees, the budget should include attorney fees for petition preparation, fees for credential evaluations or certified translations of foreign academic documents, fees for obtaining peer letters or advisory opinions from professional organizations, and—if the beneficiary is abroad—the DS-160 application fee ($185 as of February 2026) and any courier or appointment service fees required at the relevant U.S. consulate.
For employers who sponsor multiple O-1 and other nonimmigrant workers per year, the cumulative cost of USCIS filing fees can represent a significant budget line item. A technology company that sponsors five O-1 petitions per year under premium processing, assuming no small employer discount, would pay approximately $20,675 in USCIS fees alone ($4,135 per petition), before legal fees. HR departments that manage immigration programs should build a per-petition cost model that includes all anticipated fees and update it annually as USCIS adjusts its schedule. The April 2024 fee increase was the largest single-cycle fee increase in USCIS history, and while another increase of similar magnitude is not expected in the near term, the agency has signaled its intent to continue adjusting fees through the regulatory process as costs evolve.
One underutilized budgeting strategy is the phased filing approach, where regular processing is used initially and premium is added only if a decision is not received within a predetermined timeline. Under this approach, the petitioner pays only the base fee and Asylum Program Fee at the outset, monitors the case status, and files the I-907 upgrade if the case has not been decided within six to eight weeks. This approach works well for cases where the beneficiary's start date is not imminent and where there is genuine uncertainty about whether premium processing will be needed. It does not work for cases with urgent timelines, but for employers who routinely file well in advance of need, it can save thousands of dollars annually in premium processing fees.
Fee Payment Mechanics and Common Errors
USCIS accepts payment for petition fees by personal check, cashier's check, money order, or—for certain petition types filed online—credit or debit card. For I-129 petitions filed by mail, checks must be made payable to 'U.S. Department of Homeland Security.' Errors in payee designation are a common cause of petition rejection and returned mail. USCIS will not cash a check made payable to 'USCIS' without the full department name, and checks made payable to 'United States Citizenship and Immigration Services' or other variations may be accepted at the agency's discretion but create unnecessary processing delays. The safest practice is to use a cashier's check or money order made payable to 'U.S. Department of Homeland Security,' as these are reliably accepted across all service centers.
Each fee must be paid by a separate instrument in most circumstances. The base I-129 fee, the Asylum Program Fee, and the I-907 premium processing fee should each be covered by a separate check or money order unless the petitioner is paying by credit card through the online filing portal. Combining multiple fees on a single check—for example, paying $3,535 with a single check intending to cover both the base fee plus premium processing—can cause the payment to be misapplied, requiring additional correspondence with USCIS and potentially delaying the filing. The instructions on Form I-129 and Form I-907 should be consulted carefully for the most current payment guidance before submitting any petition.
A practical tip for high-volume filers: maintain a standardized checklist for fee calculation that is reviewed and updated each January. The checklist should include the current amounts for each applicable fee, the payee designation, the payment method for each fee instrument, and the documentation requirements for any exemption claims. This checklist should be part of the firm's or HR department's standard petition preparation workflow. When fee amounts change—as they did significantly in April 2024—the checklist provides a clear audit trail showing when the updated amounts were incorporated, which is useful if a petition is ever rejected for incorrect fees and the firm needs to document that it used the correct information available at the time of filing.
Extension and Amendment Filings: Fee Considerations
O-1 petitions are typically approved for an initial period of up to three years, with extensions available in one-year increments. Each extension requires a new Form I-129 filing with the full base fee and Asylum Program Fee, as well as a new premium processing fee if expedited adjudication is desired. There is no reduced fee for extension filings versus initial petitions, and the fees do not change based on the length of the requested extension period. Petitioners who file extensions should budget the same total amount as for an initial filing, adjusted for any fee schedule changes that have occurred since the initial petition was filed.
Material change petitions—also known as amended petitions—are required when the terms of the beneficiary's employment change in a way that is material to the basis for the original O-1 approval. Common material changes include a significant change in job duties, a change in employer (which generally requires a new petition rather than an amendment), a change in the location of employment that moves the beneficiary to a different labor market, or a change in the scope of the creative project or research for which the O-1 was approved. Amended petitions require a new I-129 filing with full fees, and USCIS does not credit any portion of previously paid fees toward the amendment. Petitioners and their attorneys should assess whether a proposed change rises to the level of a material change before filing to avoid unnecessary fee expenditures.
Concurrent petitions—where a beneficiary is sponsored by multiple employers simultaneously under the O-1 category—require a separate I-129 filing for each petitioner. However, the regulations allow an O-1 beneficiary to work for multiple employers if each employer files a separate petition and each petition is approved. This multi-employer arrangement is common in the entertainment industry, where a performer or director may have engagements with multiple production companies simultaneously. Each I-129 in a concurrent arrangement requires its own base fee, Asylum Program Fee, and premium processing fee if applicable. For a beneficiary with three concurrent O-1 employers, all electing premium processing, the total USCIS fees across all three petitions would exceed $12,000, excluding legal fees. Budgeting for concurrent arrangements requires clear communication among all sponsoring employers about who is bearing the cost of each filing.
Looking Ahead: Potential Fee Changes After February 2026
As of February 2026, USCIS has not announced a pending fee rule that would change the current schedule in the near term. The April 2024 rule was implemented after a prolonged rulemaking process and represents the agency's current cost-recovery baseline. However, USCIS is required by statute to review its fee schedule periodically to ensure that fees are sufficient to cover the agency's operating costs, which are funded almost entirely by petition and application fees rather than Congressional appropriations. Practitioners and corporate immigration departments should monitor the Federal Register for any Notice of Proposed Rulemaking related to USCIS fees, as the public comment period for such rules provides an opportunity to provide input on the economic impact of proposed changes.
There are several factors that could drive fee changes in the 2026-2027 timeframe. First, if USCIS's adjudication volumes decline significantly—as they might in an economic downturn that reduces employer-sponsored filings—the agency may need to increase per-petition fees to maintain its budget. Second, ongoing investments in technology modernization, including the expansion of the online filing platform and the digitization of paper case files, require capital expenditures that may not have been fully incorporated into the current fee schedule. Third, any significant changes to immigration policy that affect the volume or complexity of adjudications—such as expanded premium processing categories or new petition types—would likely trigger a fee review.
For O-1 practitioners specifically, the most likely near-term fee development is an expansion of premium processing to additional petition categories rather than a change in the O-1 premium processing fee itself. The $2,805 figure has been relatively stable since the 2024 increase, and USCIS's operational costs for premium O-1 adjudication have not changed dramatically. The more dynamic area is likely to be the base filing fee structure and the Asylum Program Fee, both of which are subject to ongoing policy debates about how immigration costs should be allocated between employers, individuals, and the general public. Staying current with fee developments is a basic professional responsibility for immigration practitioners, and a subscription to USCIS email updates or a reliable immigration law news service is essential for any active practice.