USCIS Announces Future Expansion for F-1 Students Seeking OPT and Certain Student and Exchange Visitors, as Well as the Final Phase of Premium Processing Expansion for EB-1 and EB-2 Form I-140 Petitions
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is currently in the process of putting into effect the final stage of the premium processing expansion for the Form I-140, which is known as the Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers. This expansion pertains to the EB-1 and EB-2 classifications.
This phase of the expansion is different from the phases that came before it in that it applies to both new petitions (initial petitions) and all previously submitted Form I-140 petitions for national interest waivers under the E13 classification as a member of a multinational executive and manager or the E21 classification as a member of professions with advanced degrees or exceptional ability. Earlier phases of the expansion only applied to new petitions (NIW).
If petitioners want to request premium processing, they are required to submit Form I-907, which is a requirement for Premium Processing Service.
Beginning on January 30, 2023, the process requests for the following on Form I-907 will begin:
All E13 petitions for multinational executives and managers that are still in the processing stage, as well as all E21 petitions for non-immigrant workers, and all E13 petitions for multinational executives and managers that were only recently submitted.
As was said before, as part of efforts to increase efficiency and decrease the load on the overall legal immigration system, premium processing to include additional form types are being expanded. It is better for meeting goals. In the month of March, premium processing will be offered to F-1 students who are awaiting their Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization, as well as F-1 students who are awaiting their STEM OPT renewals. Premium processing will be made available to F-1 students who submit their initial Form I-765 in April as well as F-1 students who are seeking STEM OPT extension during that same month. The month of February will provide news of the specific dates for each group.
As going forward with the expansion of premium processing in a progressive manner, work toward making premium processing available for Form I-539, Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status will continue. Offering premium processing to certain students and exchange visitors whose Form I-539 applications are still pending in the month of May are intended, and plans are made to provide the same service to certain students and exchange visitors who are currently submitting their initial Form I-539 applications in the month of June. A statement is going to be released as soon as putting these phases into action get started. In addition, adherence to the legal requirement will be assured so that the expansion of premium processing does not result in an increase in processing times for immigration benefit requests not designated for premium processing or an increase in regular processing of immigration benefit requests so designated.
