Premium Services for OPT and STEM OPT I-765

 

By Paul Szeto LLC

For the first time ever, USCIS will allow F-1 students to file their OPT and STEM OPT employment authorization applications using Premium Processing Service for the following categories:

• (c)(3)(A) – Pre-Completion OPT;
• (c)(3)(B) – Post-Completion OPT; and
• (c)(3)(C) – 24-Month Extension of OPT for STEM students.

The specific timetable is as follows:

1) Beginning March 6, 2023:   F-1 students will be allowed to upgrade pending Form I-765s (Applications for Employment Authorization) to Premium Processing Services via Form I-907 (Request for Premium Processing Service).

2) Beginning April 3, 2023:  F-1 students will be allowed to use Premium Processing Service when filing a new I-765 applications. 

USCIS will reject applications if they do not follow the above timeline. 

Applicants may submit the applications online or by mail. An online myUSCIS.gov account is required for online filing.  

F-1 students are reminded that they must follow the filing instructions and legal requirements to avoid delay or rejections.

(Immigration laws and policies change regularly.  If you have any questions regarding this article, please visit www.1visa1.com to schedule a legal consultation.)  

Premium Processing Expanded to Multinational Manager and NIW I-140 Petitions

USCIS announced today the following expansion of premium processing services: 

• Beginning June 1, 2022, USCIS will accept Form I-907 requests for E13 multinational executive and manager petitions received on or before Jan. 1, 2021.
• Beginning July 1, 2022, USCIS 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.
• USCIS will reject premium processing requests for these classifications that are filed before their start date of June 1, 2022, or July 1, 2022. USCIS will not accept new (initial) Forms I-140 with a premium processing request at this time.

On May 23, 2022, USCIS will publish a new version of Form I-907, dated 05/31/22.  The new I-907 must be used starting July 1, 2022. With this expansion, all immigrant visa petitions will be eligible for Premium Processing Services. The current additional filing fee for Premium Processing Services is $2500 for Form I-129 and I-140 petitions.  

One frequently-asked question from the public is this:  If I pay the additional fees for Premium Processing services, does it help my case or get it approved faster? Premium Processing Service does not guarantee or increase the chances of approval of a case. It only guarantees that USCIS will make a decision on an application or petition. The decision can be an approval notice, a denial notice, a notice of intent to deny, or a request for evidence, within a fixed processing timeframe. Of course, if your case is approval anyway, use of premium services does enable you to get a faster approval. 

For most I-129 (nonimmigrant employment) and I-140 (employment visa),  the processing timeframe is 15 days.  For E13 multinational manager and E21 NIW petitions mentioned above, the processing timeframe will be 45 days.

It is important to note that only initial filing of an application or petition is eligible for Premium Processing Service.   While a petition or application is pending, parties may also request for Premium Processing Service before a final decision is made on the applicable petition or application.  However, Premium Processing Service is not available on a petition or application that is reopened after an initial decision was made on the petition or application.

The other advantage of using Premium Processing Services is access to a dedicated team of premium services immigration officers.  The petition and applicant may contact these officers about their cases without going through the USCIS Contact Center.  

(Immigration laws and policies change regularly.  If you have any questions regarding this article, please visit www.1visa1.com to schedule legal consultation.) 

Premium Processing Fee Increased to $2500 Effective 10/19/2020

USCIS announcement:  The I-907 premium processing service fee will be increased from $1,440 to $2,500 for applications postmarked on or after October 19, 2020.  The new fees apply to all eligible applications except for I-129 petitions requesting H-2B worker or R-1 religious nonimmigrant status. The fee increase for H-2B and R-1 petitions will be from $1,440 to $1,500. 

Updated I-907

USCIS also released a new edition of the I-907 application for premium processing services dated 09/30/2020.  Starting on Dec. 16, 2020, USCIS will only accept the 09/30/20 edition of I-907.