USCIS Announces Premium Processing Expansion for EB-1 and EB-2 Form I-140 Petitions, as well as Future Expansion for F-1 Students Seeking OPT and Certain Student and Exchange Visitors

The third phase of the premium processing expansion for Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers, under the EB-1 and EB-2 classifications is being implemented by US Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Unlike previous phases of the expansion, this phase applies to new (initial) petitions as well as all previously filed Form I-140 petitions seeking a national interest waiver under an E13 multinational executive and manager classification or E21 classification as a member of professions with advanced degrees or exceptional ability (NIW).

Petitioners who want to request premium processing must use Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing Service.

They will accept Form I-907 requests for the following items beginning January 30, 2023:

• All pending E13 multinational executive and manager petitions, as well as E21 NIW petitions;
  and
• All original E13 multinational executive and manager petitions, as well as E21 NIW petitions.

The USCIS is expanding premium processing to more form types, as previously stated, as part of their efforts to boost efficiency and decrease constraints on the broader legal immigration system. They will begin offering premium processing to select F-1 students seeking Optional Practical Training (OPT) and STEM OPT extensions who have a pending Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization, in March. They will begin offering premium processing to F-1 students seeking OPT and F-1 students seeking STEM OPT extensions who file an initial Form I-765 in April. In February, they will announce precise dates for each group.

The USCIS will continue to work toward premium processing availability of Form I-539, Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status, as they expand premium processing in a gradual fashion. In May, they expect to increase premium processing for certain student and exchange visitors who have pending Form I-539 applications, and in June, they expect to expand premium processing for certain student and exchange visitors who are filing initial Form I-539 applications. When the USCIS is ready to execute these steps, they will make an announcement. We will also follow the legislative requirement that the expansion of premium processing not result in an increase in processing times for immigration benefit requests that are not designated for premium processing or an increase in regular processing of immigration benefit requests that are designated for premium processing.