On May 24, 2022, USCISannounced implementation of premium processing for certain work visa petitioners who have pending EB-11and EB-22petitions. This announcement is part of a USCIS' plans to expand its premium processing scheme. Premium processing provides expedited processing for certain USCIS petition types and guarantees adjudication within 15 calendar days of receipt of the petition. Petitioners can request premium processing usingI-907, Request for Premium Processing Service. To obtain premium processing, petitioners have two avenues: (1) file the petition concurrently using Form I-907, or (2) "upgrade" a previously filed petition using Form I-907.
The recent USCIS announcement expands premium processing to includepreviously filedForm I-140 petitions under the E13 petition for multinational executives and managers and the E21 petition for those who work in professions requiring advanced degrees or have exceptional abilities seeking a national interest waiver (NIW). Of importance, USCIS has announced a phased implementation for these newly added petition types. Starting on June 1, 2022, USCIS will be accepting Form I-907 "upgrade" requests for E13 multinational executive and manager petitions received on or before Jan. 1, 2021. Subsequently, starting on July 1, 2022, USCIS will accept Form I-907 "upgrade" requests for E21 NIW petitions received on or before June 1, 2021, and E13 multinational executive and manager petitions received on or before March 1, 2021. It is of note that USCIS is silent on when it will implement premium processing expansion for newly filed EB-1 and EB-2 petitions within those discussed categories.
USCIS previously announcedthat it would implement a phased expansion of its premium processing scheme in March 2022. The expansion also comes with a newly updated Form I-907, dated 5/31/2022, to replace the previous form dated 09/30/2020. Practitioners should note that for the month of June, USCIS will accept both the 09/30/20 and the 05/31/22 editions of Form I-907. Starting July 1, they will reject the older 09/30/20 edition of Form I-907.
Footnotes
1. EB-1 refers to the employment-based first preference immigrant visa category for individuals of extraordinary ability, outstanding professors or researchers, or multinational executives or managers.
2. EB-2 refers to the employment-based second preference immigrant visa category for individuals of professions holding an advanced degree or its equivalent, or individuals who possess exceptional ability.
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