Update to USCIS Expansion of Premium Processing to Certain Applications and Petitions

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently announced that it has begun its implementation of the expansion of the Form I-907 premium processing service to certain applications and petitions. As provided in our previous alert in March 2022, the expansion of the optional premium processing service is part of the USCIS’ efforts to increase efficiency and reduce burdens to the overall legal immigration system. This expansion will be “phased in” over the course of the next three years.

As noted in the recent announcement, the USCIS has started accepting premium processing requests only for pending I-140 immigrant petitions under the EB-1C Multinational Executive and Manager and EB-2 National Interest Waiver categories. Eligible petitions under this first phase are as follows:

Premium processing is an additional fee paid to the USCIS to ‘guarantee’ initial adjudication of certain petitions or applications for immigration benefits within a specified time period. Currently, the processing times under premium processing is 15 calendar days. However, under this new policy, the processing times under premium processing will vary depending on designated petition / application classification. Please see our previous alert for processing times. The USCIS is expected to phase in additional Form I-140 petitions, Form I-539 and Form I-765 in fiscal year 2022.