U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Premium Processing service, when available, provides expedited processing (15 calendar days) of certain employment-based petitions, specifically Form I-129 (used to petition for various non-immigrant visa classifications, such as H-1B or L-1) and Form I-140 (part of the immigrant visa petition process). The service is optional, but sometimes necessary to avoid the otherwise long USCIS processing times (often several months).
By notice dated October 31, 2019, USCIS announced it is increasing the Premium Processing fee from $1,410 to $1,440, effective December 2, 2019. According to USCIS, the fee increase "reflects the full amount of inflation" from when the fee was last increased in 2018.