News - August 2006


Premium Processing Service for I-140 Petitions Expected Soon

A recent report from USCIS confirms that the agency is moving forward with its plan to expand its Premium Processing service to cover a range of I-140 immigrant visa petitions. An official notice that the service is available is likely to be made soon, giving an effective date at the end of August.

Under the Premium Processing service, in exchange for the $1000 premium processing fee, USCIS guarantees that designated petitions and applications will be processed within 15 calendar days.

Premium Processing has long been available for petitions for nonimmigrant workers, which includes petitions for foreign nationals to come to the U.S. temporarily to perform services or labor, or to receive training, in a number of classifications such as H-1B, L-1, and O-1. The change will expand the service to cover many permanent visa petitions for employment based visa categories.

The announcement is expected to be made on the USCIS website, in accordance with a prior notice in the Federal Register on May 23, 2006.

 

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