On July 15th, 2022, USCIS announced that they will begin implementing phase two of the premium processing upgrade expansion plan for certain pending EB-1 and EB-2 I-140 Petitions.
Beginning August 1st, 2022, USCIS will accept premium processing upgrades for the following categories:
- E21 National Interest Waiver Petitions received on or before July 1st, 2021
- E13 Multinational Executive and Manager Petitions received before August 1st, 2021
Please keep in mind that USCIS will reject any premium processing requests for petitions received after the dates provided above. Currently, this expansion is exclusive to pending petitions.
USCIS will not accept new initial I-140 forms requesting premium processing at this time.
Fees and Timelines
Currently, the fee for premium processing will remain at $2500 per petition. USCIS does have the authorization to increase this fee on a bi-annual basis. The current premium processing timeline for the above categories is 45 days assuming all necessary documentation has been received by USCIS. If a Request for Evidence (RFE) or Notice of Intent to Deny (NOID) is received by the petitioner, the 45-day timeline will restart and begin once a response is received by USCIS.
This announcement is part of a phased implementation plan to provide petitioners with the option to expedite their pending applications.
You can read more about the USCIS premium processing expansion plan here.
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