United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) announced it is implementing the final phase of its expansion of premium processing for Forms I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers, in the EB-1 Multinational Executive and Manager and EB-2 National Interest Waiver (NIW) categories. This final phase is set to commence on January 30, 2023.

In its effort to increase efficiency, in this last phase of the premium processing expansion, USCIS will begin accepting premium processing requests for:

All pending and initial EB-1 Multinational Executive and Manager I-140 petitions; and

All pending and initial EB-2 NIW I-140 petitions.

Additionally, to “reduce burdens to the overall legal immigration system” USCIS announced its upcoming agenda to expand premium processing in March and April 2023 to Form I-765, Applications for Employment Authorization for certain students seeking Optional Practical Training (“OPT”) and STEM OPT. USCIS noted it will announce details on the Form I-765 phase of premium processing expansion in February 2023. The Service also reported expanding premium processing for certain student and exchange visitors with pending Form I-539 applications this coming May and certain student and exchange visitors who are filing initial Form I-539 applications in June, 2023.

To request premium processing, an I-907 Request for Premium Processing must be filed with the Service, along with the $2,500 fee. The processing timeframe will be forty-five days. As the final phase of the program is rolled out, we will continue to keep you updated on any developments.