Matt Ohm Quoted in SHRM on Rising Immigration Costs for Employers

In an article for Society for Human Resource Management, Matt Ohm, AGG Global Mobility partner, discussed how U.S. employers should rethink their immigration spending due to the latest U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) premium processing fee increase.

Matt examines USCIS’s March 1 fee hike, raising premium processing from $2,805 to $2,965 for key employment-based petitions, including H-1B, L-1, O-1, E-3, TN, and green card filings, and what that means for corporate workforce planning.

Matt notes that while the per-case increase may look small, the cumulative impact on high-volume employers can be significant.

“Per case, an extra $160 may look incremental, but for employers that routinely use premium, the totals add up quickly,” he said.

While many organizations have treated premium processing as a default rather than a decision point, Matt advises that the fee increase is a signal for HR leaders to rethink hiring timelines and internal processes.

“The increase is a prompt for HR to use premium processing more deliberately instead of reflexively,” he explained. “Leaders should reassess which cases truly need a 15-business-day decision.”

To read the full article and learn more about the USCIS fee increases, please click here (membership required).