Update on USCIS Expansion of Premium Processing 

Update on USCIS Expansion of Premium Processing

September 19, 2022

On September 15, 2022, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it will be implementing the next phase of the premium processing expansion for certain petitioners who have a pending Form I-140 Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker under the first-preference and second-preference employment-based categories. This new expansion will only apply to certain previously filed Form I-140 petitions under an E13 multinational executive and manager classification or the E21 classification for those seeking a national interest waiver (NIW).

USCIS will now accept Form I-907 premium processing requests for petitions that meet the following criteria:

  • E13 multinational executive and manager petitions received on or before Jan. 1, 2022; or
  • E21 NIW petitions received on or before Feb. 1, 2022.

USCIS will reject premium processing requests for these Form I-140 classifications if the receipt date is after the posted dates. Upon receipt of a premium processing request, USCIS will have 45 days to take adjudicative action on eligible Form I-140 petitions. 

This expansion is part of the previously announced plan to extend premium processing services to additional form types in an effort 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 of additional Form I-140 petitions, Form I-539 Application to Change/Extent Nonimmigrant Classification, and Form I-765 Application 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 for regular immigration benefit requests.

We will continue to monitor any new updates as USCIS’ premium processing expansion continues.

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Authors

Frances Rayer

Member

frayer@cozen.com

(215) 665-3704

Elizabeth A. Olivera

Associate

eolivera@cozen.com

(312) 382-3139

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