U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) has implemented the next phase of the premium processing expansion for certain petitioners who have a pending Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers, under certain EB-1 or EB-2 classifications.
This phase only applies to certain previously filed Form I-140 petitions under the E13 multinational manager/executive classification or the E21 National Interest Waiver (NIW) classification.
Petitioners with eligible I-140 petitions pending who wish to upgrade to premium processing must file Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing Service.
Beginning on 9/15/2022 USCIS began accepting premium processing requests for:
- E13 multinational executive and manager petitions received on or before 1/1/2022; and
- E21 NIW petitions received on or before 2/1/2022.
USCIS will reject premium processing requests for these I-140 classifications if the receipt date is after the dates listed above.
Once an eligible I-140 petition has been converted to premium processing, USCIS has 45 days to take an action on the petition.
USCIS is not accepting new (initial) I-140 petitions for the E13 or E21 categories requesting premium processing at this time.
As previously announced, USCIS is expanding premium processing to additional form types as part of its efforts to increase efficiency and reduce burdens to the overall legal immigration system. As USCIS implements the expansion of premium processing in a phased approach, it will continue working toward premium processing availability for additional I-140 petitions, I-539 application to extend/change nonimmigrant status, and I-765 applications for employment authorization.
USCIS will also adhere to the legislative requirement that the expansion of premium processing must not cause an increase in processing times petitions not requesting premium processing.
To date, the premium processing expansion has not yet been implemented for I-539 and I-765 applications.
