Premium processing, once promoted as an optional fast-track immigration service, has increasingly become unavoidable for international students, skilled workers, and employers in the United States as delays in regular visa processing continue to grow.
Immigration lawyers say applicants across major visa and employment categories are now routinely paying extra fees because standard processing timelines at the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) have stretched for months. The trend is now common in F-1 Optional Practical Training (OPT), STEM OPT extensions, H-1B visas, L-1 petitions, National Interest Waiver (NIW) filings, EB-1 petitions, and I-140 applications.
