USCIS Announces Expansion of Premium Processing

While U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) made clear that it would not be increasing the $2,500 premium processing fee in its latest round of proposed fee increases, the agency announced on January 12 its final phase of premium processing expansion for EB-1 and EB-2 Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers.

Beginning January 30, 2023, USCIS will accept Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing Service for all EB-1 multinational executive and manager petitions and all EB-2 national interest waiver (NIW) petitions. Notably, unlike previous phases of premium processing expansion, this phase applies to all petitions, both new (initial) and previously filed (pending) under the EB-1 multinational executive and manager petitions and all EB-2 NIW categories.

This long-awaited final phase of premium processing expansion for EB-1 and EB-2 Form I-140 petitions comes following a March 29, 2022 announcement from USCIS.

We will continue to monitor further expansions to premium processing, as USCIS has announced plans to expand premium processing for F-1 students in the coming months, with specific dates for each group to be announced in February. In March, USCIS plans to expand premium processing to certain F-1 students seeking Optional Practical Training (OPT) and F-1 students seeking STEM OPT extensions who have a pending Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization. In April, USCIS plans to expand premium processing to F-1 students seeking OPT and F-1 students seeking STEM OPT extensions who are filing an initial Form I-765.

USCIS has also announced plans to implement the expansion of premium processing availability for Form I-539, Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status. As part of its phased rollout, USCIS plans to expand premium processing for certain student and exchange visitors with pending Form I-539 applications in May and for certain student and exchange visitors filing initial Form I-539 applications in June.

For more information, please see the USCIS News Alert released on January 12, 2023.