Fee Requirements

Please note that Premium Processing fees increased on 2/26/24 to $2805, and other USCIS application fees will increase on 4/1/24. During this transition, your OISS adviser will send you an email to advise you which fee rate to use for your existing sponsorship requests. Learn more about this change here.

Please review the various fees listed below. A separate check, made out to “Department of Homeland Security” is required for each fee. Complete the OISS Application Fees Form and submit it to Accounts Payable.


Petition Filing Fee

The base petition fee, for the filing of the H-1B petition, is $460. This fee must be paid by the employer.


$500 Anti-Fraud Fee

This “government fraud protection/detection fee” is a one-time fee. This fee is required for any scholar seeking H-1B status with Yale for the first time, even if they are already in the U.S. in H-1B status with another employer. This fee must be paid by the employer.


(Optional) Expedited Processing Fee

Premium Processing is the USCIS expedited processing fee ($2805) for having the H-1B petition (Form I-129) adjudicated within 15 business days. Speak to your OISS adviser to confirm a necessity of Premium Processing use for the specific request.  Due to legal compliance issues, this fee should be paid by Yale, and not the scholar. The fee may be paid by the scholar only if it is the personal request of the scholar and unrelated to employment needs. Additionally, it must be demonstrated that paying the fee will not put the scholar’s annual income below the prevailing wage (see Prevailing Wage). 

The Premium Processing fee can be requested either at the time of the initial filing or after filing a regular processing application.  If the original petition was filed without premium processing and you want to add it to shorten the processing time, please speak to an OISS adviser for details.


Family Members

Dependent application for H-4 status (Form I-539/I-539A) for family members (spouse and children under 21 years of age) is $370 for the entire family ($ 420 for online, or $ 470 for paper filing, as of 4/1). This fee may be paid by the department or the scholar.