USCIS Announces Premium Processing for EB3
- United States
- 08/28/2006
- Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently announced that, beginning on August 28, 2006, it will accept Premium Processing requests for two employment based Immigrant categories within the third preference (EB3) classification filed on Form I140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker. These categories include EB3 Professionals, or those workers in professional positions requiring at least a bachelor’s degree; and EB3 Skilled Workers, or those workers performing skilled labor in positions requiring two years of education, training, or experience. Premium Processing will not be available to “Other Workers” in the EB3 classification, nor will it be available for I140 petitions filed for first (EB1) and second (EB2) preference immigrant workers, until USCIS publishes a separate announcement addressing those categories.
Currently, Premium Processing service is available for most nonimmigrant petitions filed on Form I129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker. As a courtesy, USCIS also processes I539 applications for dependents that are concurrently filed with Form I129. Under Premium Processing, for a $1,000 fee, USCIS guarantees either a decision or a request for additional evidence within 15 calendar days of receipt of the petition. In May 2006, USCIS published a Notice in the Federal Register extending Premium Processing to Forms I140, I539 (Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status), and I765 (Application for Employment Authorization, or EAD). The Notice stated, however, that Premium Processing would not be available until USCIS specified on its website the dates of availability for Premium Processing Service for these petitions and applications. The recent announcement of EB3 I 140 petition Premium Processing represents the first notice of availability for any of these cases following the May 2006 announcement.
To facilitate I140 Premium Processing requests, USCIS will release a new Form I907, Request for Premium Processing Service, to include the newly designated classification. The new form I907 *must be* used for all Premium Processing requests received by USCIS on or after August 28, 2006, and it *will not be* accepted for any Premium Processing requests (for Form I129 petitions) received by USCIS before that date.
How This Affects You
The addition of these two EB3 categories to the Premium Processing service is a welcome development. One significant benefit applies to H1B nonimmigrants who are affected by the per country immigrant visa backlogs: a speedy I140 approval will result in eligibility to extend their status for three additional years under provisions of The American Competitiveness in the 21st Century Act (AC21), regardless of the expiration of their six year limitation. Another benefit applies to foreign nationals whose I485 Applications to Adjust Status have been pending more than six months but whose I140 petitions are not yet adjudicated; a quick I140 approval will allow them to take advantage of AC21 portability provisions and change employers, or change positions within the same company, provided the new position is in the same or a similar occupation. Nevertheless, the addition of two EB3 categories to Premium Processing will not necessarily result in a faster green card process, particularly for the many foreign nationals whose cases cannot proceed to the final step in the permanent residence process until the individual’s priority date becomes current, enabling the filing of the I485 Application to Adjust Status (see Morgan Lewis Resources Immigration Alert: Department of State Issues September 2006 Visa Bulletin; Forward Movement in Many CutOff Dates ,August 16, 2006, for more details). It is possible that the agency’s strategy in expanding Premium Processing to just these few categories is an attempt at a gradual implementation that will contain the “growing pains” and training issues that invariably result from newly introduced processes.
We will provide further information as soon as it becomes available.
