USCIS published a notice in the Federal Register today announcing that certain employment-based petitions and applications will become eligible for premium processing service.
For an additional fee, premium processing service guarantees that USCIS will process the application or petition within 15 calendar days of receiving a Request for Premium Processing Service.
Premium processing will be made available for the following employment based (EB) I-140 petitions:
- EB-1 aliens of extraordinary ability, outstanding professors and researchers, and multinational executives and managers
- EB-2 members of professions with advanced degrees or exceptional ability not seeking a national interest waiver
- EB-3 skilled workers, professionals, and other workers.
Premium processing is not being extended to national interest waivers because of the complexity of processing those petitions.
In addition, USCIS announced that premium processing would be extended to the following types of applications:
- Form I-539, Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status, for applicants seeking change to, or extension of, B-1 and J-1 status as principal beneficiaries, as well as E-1 derivative, E-2 derivative, J-2, H-4, L-2, O-3, P-4, R-2 and TD status as derivative beneficiaries.
- Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization, but only for applicants renewing a grant of employment authorization based on a pending application for adjustment of status.
Premium processing of derivative beneficiaries without an additional fee will be continued, so long as the derivative’s application is filed at the same time as the I-129 petition on behalf of the principal beneficiary.
Please note that premium processing service for I-140s, I-539s and I-765s is not available yet. USCIS will post the effective date premium processing service becomes available on their website, http://www.uscis.gov. We will continue to monitor this issue and send out another Client Alert when the rule goes into effect.
For questions about particular cases, please contact the firm.
