Headlines:
DHS to Elevate Premium Processing Charges – U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Companies is elevating premium processing charges efficient March 1, 2026.
DOL, DHS Announce Further 35,000 Visas to Complement FY 2026 H-2B Cap – The companies mentioned they may focus these extra H-2B visas on U.S. companies with seasonal or short-term workforce wants in “important infrastructure sectors of the U.S. financial system, corresponding to seafood, forestry, hospitality and tourism, transportation, and manufacturing.”
DOS Provides International locations Topic to Visa Bonds and Expands Ports of Entry – All visa holders who’ve posted a visa bond should enter and exit america by designated ports of entry.
DHS Launches Sweeping Fraud Investigation in Minnesota – Operation PARRIS is a part of a broader technique to implement enhanced screening requirements, the Division of Homeland Safety mentioned. It seems that all refugee approvals from January 21, 2021, to February 20, 2025 (roughly 233,000 circumstances) will probably be reviewed.
Particulars:
DHS to Elevate Premium Processing Charges
On January 9, 2026, the Division of Homeland Safety introduced that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Companies (USCIS) is elevating premium processing charges efficient March 1, 2026. These submitting a request for premium processing postmarked on or after that date should embody the brand new payment.
Please seek the advice of the new payment schedule beneath:
| Kind | Earlier Payment | New Payment |
| Kind I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Employee, H-2B or R-1 nonimmigrant standing | $1,685 | $1,780 |
| Kind I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Employee, all different accessible Kind I-129 classifications:
E-1, E-2, E-3 |
$2,805 | $2,965 |
| Kind I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Employee, employment-based classifications:
E11, E12, E13 |
$2,805 | $2,965 |
| Kind I-539, Utility to Prolong/Change Nonimmigrant Standing, requesting:
F-1, F-2 |
$1,965 | $2,075 |
| Kind I-765, Utility for Employment Authorization, for sure eligible functions (OPT and STEM-OPT Classifications) | $1,685 | $1,780 |
DOL, DHS Announce Further 35,000 Visas to Complement FY 2026 H-2B Cap
The Departments of Labor (DOL) and Homeland Safety (DHS) mentioned they may make an extra 35,000 H-2B short-term nonagricultural employee visas accessible for Fiscal 12 months (FY) 2026, on prime of the congressionally mandated 66,000 H-2B visas which can be accessible every fiscal 12 months.
The companies mentioned they may focus these extra H-2B visas on U.S. companies with seasonal or short-term workforce wants in “important infrastructure sectors of the U.S. financial system, corresponding to seafood, forestry, hospitality and tourism, transportation, and manufacturing.” DOL and DHS mentioned they plan to launch these extra H-2B visas, together with any eligibility standards and submitting necessities, “within the coming weeks by a brief last rule revealed within the Federal Register.”
DOS Provides International locations Topic to Visa Bonds and Expands Ports of Entry
The Division of State (DOS) has recognized nationals from an inventory of nations as needing visa bonds. Any citizen or nationwide touring on a passport issued by certainly one of these nations, who’s discovered in any other case eligible for a B1/B2 visa, should submit a bond for both $5,000, $10,000, or $15,000. The quantity is set on the time of the visa interview.
All visa holders who’ve posted a visa bond should enter and exit america by one of many designated ports of entry listed beneath. Failure to take action would possibly result in a denied entry or a departure that isn’t correctly recorded, DOS mentioned. The earliest date on which a visa holder who posted a visa bond could enter or exit at every port of entry is in parentheses. Further designated ports of entry will probably be added on a rolling foundation:
Boston Logan Worldwide Airport (BOS) (August 20, 2025)
John F. Kennedy Worldwide Airport (JFK) (August 20, 2025)
Washington Dulles Worldwide Airport (IAD) (August 20, 2025)
Newark Liberty Worldwide Airport (EWR) (January 1, 2026)
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Worldwide Airport (ATL) (January 1, 2026)
Chicago O’Hare Worldwide Airport (ORD) (January 1, 2026)
Los Angeles Worldwide Airport (LAX) (January 1, 2026)
Toronto Pearson Worldwide Airport (YYZ) (January 1, 2026)
Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau Worldwide Airport (YUL) (January 1, 2026)
The applicant should additionally submit a Kind I-352 with the Division of Homeland Safety. Candidates should conform to the phrases of the bond by the Division of the Treasury’s on-line cost platform Pay.gov. This requirement applies no matter place of utility, DOS mentioned.
Candidates ought to submit Kind I-352 to submit a bond solely after a consular officer directs them to take action. Candidates will obtain a direct cost hyperlink by Pay.gov. They have to not use any third-party web site for posting the bond, in response to DOS.
DHS Launches Sweeping Fraud Investigation in Minnesota
On January 9, 2026, the Division of Homeland Safety (DHS) and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Companies (USCIS) introduced that they’ve launched Operation PARRIS (Put up-Admission Refugee Reverification and Integrity Strengthening) in Minnesota, “a sweeping initiative reexamining hundreds of refugee circumstances by new background checks and intensive verification of refugee claims.”
The preliminary focus is on Minnesota’s 5,600 refugees who haven’t but obtained inexperienced playing cards. DHS mentioned that USCIS’s newly established vetting heart is main Operation PARRIS, with adjudicators conducting background checks, reinterviews, and benefit evaluations of refugee claims.
Begun in mid-December and now referring circumstances to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Operation PARRIS is a part of a broader technique to implement enhanced screening requirements, DHS mentioned. It seems that all refugee approvals from January 21, 2021, to February 20, 2025 (roughly 233,000 circumstances) will probably be reviewed.
