Form I-140 Filing Fees: The $715 Base Fee and What Else You'll Pay

A $715 base fee is only the start — add the Asylum Program Fee and, if you want speed, a $2,965 premium processing add-on.

If you're the beneficiary of an employment-based green card petition, someone just told you Form I-140 costs $715 to file — and that's not the full number. The $715 is only the USCIS base filing fee. On top of it, nearly every I-140 petitioner also owes an Asylum Program Fee of $300 or $600 depending on who is filing, and if you or your employer want a guaranteed decision window instead of the standard queue, premium processing adds $2,965 as of the March 1, 2026 fee adjustment. Here's what each of those pieces actually covers, who typically pays them, and what shows up later in the green card process that people mistake for part of the I-140 bill.

The three pieces of an I-140 filing fee

Form I-140, the Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker, is the step that establishes your priority date and confirms you (or your employer, on your behalf) qualify for an employment-based green card category — EB-1, EB-2, or EB-3. Filing it correctly means accounting for three separate charges, not one.

Two of the three are non-negotiable line items on any I-140. Only premium processing is a choice, and it's worth understanding why someone would pay nearly $3,000 to skip a queue before deciding whether it makes sense for your case.

The $715 base fee

The base filing fee for Form I-140 is $715. This is the fee USCIS charges to open and adjudicate the immigrant petition itself, separate from anything related to the labor certification (PERM) that typically precedes an EB-2 or EB-3 filing, and separate from the adjustment of status filing (Form I-485) that comes later. If your employer's attorney quoted you "$715 for the I-140," they were quoting the base fee alone — ask directly whether that figure already includes the Asylum Program Fee, because it's easy for the two to get bundled or unbundled inconsistently between firms.

Fee amounts at USCIS change periodically through formal rulemaking, and $715 reflects the current schedule. Before you or your employer submit a filing, confirm the live number against the USCIS fee schedule, since a stale fee amount is one of the more common reasons USCIS rejects a filing outright for insufficient payment.

The Asylum Program Fee — the part people forget

The Asylum Program Fee is where most fee-estimate conversations go wrong, because it's easy to mentally file I-140 costs under "$715" and stop there. It doesn't work that way. USCIS charges an Asylum Program Fee on every I-140, and the amount depends on who is doing the petitioning:

• $300 if you are self-petitioning — this covers categories like EB-1A (extraordinary ability) and EB-2 NIW (national interest waiver), where you file on your own behalf without a sponsoring employer.
• $600 if your petition is employer-sponsored — this covers the more common path, where your employer files the I-140 after completing PERM labor certification (typically EB-2 or EB-3) or as part of an EB-1C multinational manager petition.

That's a real gap: a self-petitioner pays $715 + $300 = $1,015 in USCIS fees before considering premium processing, while an employer-sponsored petition runs $715 + $600 = $1,315. Neither number is optional, and neither shows up if you only ask "what's the I-140 filing fee" without following up on the Asylum Program Fee specifically.

Premium processing — the optional $2,965 add-on

Premium processing is a separate service USCIS sells through Form I-907. It doesn't change the outcome of your case; it changes how fast USCIS has to act on it. As of the March 1, 2026 fee adjustment, premium processing for Form I-140 costs $2,965.

What that money buys depends on your category:

A few mechanics matter here, because they trip people up:

1. "Action" means USCIS must issue an approval, a denial, or a Request for Evidence within the window — it does not mean approval. Premium processing buys certainty of timing, not a favorable outcome.
2. The clock counts business days only. Weekends and federal holidays don't count, so 15 business days is roughly three calendar weeks, not two.
3. The clock starts when USCIS accepts the I-907 premium processing upgrade, not when the underlying I-140 was originally filed. If you add premium processing to a case that's already been sitting in the standard queue, the countdown begins at acceptance of the upgrade.
4. If USCIS misses its own window, it refunds the premium processing fee — though your case still gets adjudicated; the refund is a penalty on USCIS, not a guarantee of any particular outcome for you.

For the fuller breakdown of how the 15-day and 45-day tracks diverge by category, see our guide on I-140 premium processing timelines.

How the fees fit into a filing timeline

If you're trying to understand where each payment lands in the actual process, here's the typical sequence for an employer-sponsored I-140:

1. PERM labor certification is approved by DOL (for EB-2 and EB-3 cases; EB-1A, EB-1C, and EB-2 NIW skip this step).
2. Employer or attorney prepares Form I-140 with supporting evidence tied to your category.
3. Base filing fee ($715) and Asylum Program Fee ($600 employer-sponsored, or $300 self-petition) are submitted with the I-140.
4. Optional: Form I-907 is filed with the $2,965 premium processing fee, either at the same time as the I-140 or added later.
5. USCIS issues a receipt notice, and if premium processing was requested, the 15- or 45-business-day clock starts from acceptance of that upgrade.
6. USCIS approves, denies, or issues an RFE. An RFE response resets the practical timeline even under premium processing, since the guarantee applies to the next USCIS action, not to final resolution after your response.

What comes after the I-140 — costs people mistake for part of it

The I-140 fee conversation often gets tangled up with the next filing in the pipeline: Form I-485, adjustment of status, which is how you actually convert your approved petition into a green card once your priority date is current. It has its own, separate fee — it is not part of what you pay to file the I-140, and premium processing isn't even available for it. Budgeting for "the green card" as a single line item is a mistake; it's at least two separate filings with two separate fee structures, often years apart depending on your category and country of birth.

If you're earlier in your visa timeline and trying to map out the full cost sequence from student status through employment-based sponsorship, our guide on what STEM OPT applications cost covers the fee that usually comes first.

A note on the $100,000 H-1B fee — it doesn't apply here

If you've seen headlines about a $100,000 fee tied to H-1B petitions, it's a fair question whether anything similar touches your I-140. It doesn't, and as of this writing the fee itself isn't even being collected: a federal court vacated the underlying proclamation on June 8, 2026, and the First Circuit denied the government's request to reinstate it on July 24, 2026, with the appeal still pending. That fee, when it was in effect, targeted new H-1B petitions for workers being brought in from outside the US — a completely different filing from Form I-140. See our breakdown of whether the $100,000 fee touches OPT and student-visa holders if you want the fuller picture of what it did and didn't cover.

Common mistakes

• Quoting only the $715 base fee. The Asylum Program Fee (an additional $300 or $600) is required on every I-140, not an add-on you can skip.
• Assuming premium processing guarantees approval. It guarantees a timely decision — approval, denial, or an RFE — within 15 or 45 business days depending on category, not a favorable outcome.
• Not checking which premium processing track applies. EB-1C and EB-2 NIW run on a 45-business-day guarantee, not the 15-business-day track most other categories get. Budgeting around the wrong number means being surprised when the clock runs longer than expected.
• Treating I-485 costs as part of the I-140 bill. Adjustment of status is a separate, later filing with its own fee structure, and for many categories it can't even be filed until your priority date is current.
• Filing with a stale fee amount. USCIS periodically adjusts filing fees. A payment that's short by even the Asylum Program Fee amount can get an entire I-140 packet rejected on receipt.
• Not clarifying who's paying before filing. Self-petitioners (EB-1A, EB-2 NIW) are on the hook for both USCIS fees themselves; employer-sponsored petitioners should confirm in advance what their employer covers versus what falls to them.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Form I-140 filing fee in 2026? The Form I-140 base filing fee is $715. Most petitioners also owe an Asylum Program Fee on top of that, and premium processing is a separate optional add-on. Because USCIS adjusts fees periodically, confirm the current amount on the USCIS fee schedule before you file.

How much is the I-140 Asylum Program Fee? The Asylum Program Fee is $300 if you are self-petitioning, such as for an EB-1A or EB-2 NIW case, and $600 if your petition is employer-sponsored. This fee is separate from the $715 base filing fee and is submitted at the same time as Form I-140.

Do I have to pay for premium processing on Form I-140? No, premium processing is optional. As of the March 1, 2026 fee adjustment it costs $2,965 on top of the base fee and the Asylum Program Fee. It buys a guaranteed window for USCIS to take action on your case, not a guaranteed approval.

Who pays the I-140 filing fee, me or my employer? For an employer-sponsored petition, the employer generally covers the immigrant petition costs as part of sponsoring your green card, though the exact split is a matter between you and your employer rather than a fixed USCIS rule. If you are self-petitioning under EB-1A or EB-2 NIW, you pay both the base fee and the Asylum Program Fee yourself, since there is no sponsoring employer.

Does paying the I-140 fee mean my green card process is finished? No. Approval of Form I-140 confirms your immigrant petition, but adjustment of status through Form I-485 is a separate filing with its own fee and timeline, and it can only move forward once your priority date is current. Budget for both stages separately, and talk to your employer's immigration attorney about the full sequence.

None of this is legal advice, and it isn't a substitute for reviewing your specific petition strategy with your employer's immigration attorney — or your own, if you're self-petitioning. Fee amounts and processing guarantees change, so treat the numbers here as a starting point for a conversation, not a final answer. If you want help thinking through the broader job-search and sponsorship picture around your green card timeline, F1Jobs is a good place to start.