Is Premium Processing Worth It for 39-Country Cases in 2026?

A PhD student with an EB-2 I-140 filed in February 2025, from one of the countries caught in the adjudication pause, asked the Immigration Answer Show a simple question: should she pay to upgrade to premium processing? She has two and a half years left on her I-20 and isn’t in a rush. Jim Hacking told her to keep her money.

Premium processing is supposed to be a simple trade. Under 8 U.S.C. § 1356(u), USCIS takes an extra fee in exchange for a guaranteed adjudication window, which is 15 business days for an I-140 under 8 CFR § 106.4, or it has to refund the fee. The catch is what counts as “adjudication.” Issuing a request for evidence stops the clock and discharges the guarantee, and Hacking’s point is that the agency leans on that exit.

The fee is not small and just went up. USCIS raised the I-907 premium processing fee to $2,965 for an I-140, effective March 1, 2026, from $2,805. Hacking’s read is that there is no real downside to upgrading, but not much upside either, because paying more does not force the agency to decide a case it wants to sit on. For a self-filed NIW especially, the likely result of paying is a prong-two request for evidence that resets everything.

The country pause is the real variable here, and premium processing doesn’t touch it. Applicants from the restricted list have seen cases held regardless of what they pay, which is why the firm’s leverage on those files has come from litigation over the adjudication holds, not from an I-907 upgrade. Hacking floated turning the mismatch itself into a case.

For an applicant with years left on her I-20 and no priority-date pressure, the call is easy: hold the $2,965, let the I-140 ride, and spend the money on a mandamus if the case is genuinely stuck. Premium processing earns its fee when a fast, clean approval unlocks something time-sensitive, like a downstream filing or a job start. It is a poor bet when the delay is a policy hold that the extra fee was never designed to move.