USCIS issued a Press Release on February 24, 2009, announcing a modest expansion of Premium Processing (PP) service for certain I-140 petitions. The change will go into effect as of March 2, 2009. We would note that PP is only available for certain I-140 categories and only for I-140 petitions where the foreign national's priority date is not current.

Prior to March 2nd, in order for an I-140 petition to be eligible for PP, the beneficiary of the I-140 petition: a) must be in H-1B status, b) must be reaching the six year limit of H-1B status within the next 60 days, and c) is only eligible to extend H-1B status if the I-140 petition is approved. If the beneficiary of the I-140 is eligible to extend H-1B status without the I-140 approval, the PP request will be rejected, and USCIS will continue to process the I-140 normally.

After March 2nd, in addition to I-140 petitions that meet the criteria outlined above, the USCIS will also PP I-140 petitions sponsoring individuals who: a) have already reached the six year H-1B limit and are no longer in H-1B status, and b) are only eligible to return to H-1B status as a result of the I-140 approval. In other words, the expansion allows for PP on I-140 petitions where the beneficiary has run out of H-1B time, is not eligible for a one year H-1B extension based on the priority date, but is eligible for a three year H-1B extension with an approved I-140 petition.

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