U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today announced the first implementation phase of the previously announced premium processing expansion. This expansion applies to certain petitioners who have a pending Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers, under the E13 multinational executive and manager classification or the E21 classification as a member of professions with advanced degrees or exceptional ability seeking a national interest waiver (NIW).
USCIS will begin offering premium processing in a staggered approach for these Form I-140 petitions:
• Beginning June 1, 2022, we will accept Form I-907 requests for E13 multinational executive and manager petitions received on or before Jan. 1, 2021.
• Beginning July 1, 2022, we will accept Form I-907 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.
Premium processing will only be available to petitioners who already have pending E13 multinational executive and manager or E21 NIW petitions, and petitioners should follow the schedule outlined in the chart below. The date next to each month is the receipt/priority date that will be eligible to file a premium processing upgrade request. For example, if an E13 multinational executive and manager petition has a receipt date of Jan. 15, 2021, they would NOT be eligible for premium processing services as of June 1, 2022. But if the receipt date was Dec. 23, 2020, they could file an upgrade using Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing Service. USCIS will reject premium processing requests for these classifications that are filed before their start date of June 1, 2022, or July 1, 2022.
| E13 Upgrade Schedule |
|
| Start Date | Corresponding Filing/Priority Dates |
| June 1, 2022 | On or before Jan. 1, 2021 |
| July 1, 2022 | On or before March 1, 2021 |
E21 NIW Upgrade Schedule |
|
| Start Date | Corresponding Filing/Priority Dates |
| June 1, 2022 | On or before Jan. 1, 2021 |
On May 23, 2022, USCIS published a new version of Form I-907, dated 05/31/22. For the month of June, USCIS will accept both the 09/30/20 and the 05/31/22 edition of Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing Service. Starting July 1, 2022, USCIS will reject petitions using the older 09/30/20 edition of Form I-907.
Background
As previously announced, USCIS is implementing several efforts to increase efficiency and reduce burdens to the overall legal immigration system. One of those efforts is expanding premium processing to additional form types.
On March 30, the Department of Homeland Security published a final rule that expands the categories of forms ultimately eligible for premium processing services, including Form I-539, Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status; Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization; and additional classifications under Form I-140. As specified by Congress, this final rule allows USCIS 45 days for premium processing of newly included Form I-140 E13 and E21 NIW requests.