We reported in May that USCIS would provide premium service for the following forms: I-140 “Immigration Petition for Alien Worker,” I-539 “Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status,” and I-765 “Application for Employment Authorization.” Under premium processing service, USCIS guarantees it will process these applications within 15 calendar days for an additional processing fee of $1,000. At that time, USCIS said it would announce the starting date of this new policy. Now, this new policy is going to be in effect sometime in August.

Dr. Emilio Gonzalez, director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), announced that USCIS will start premium service for EB3 I-140 sometime in August. This news was released during an online chat on the White House website on July 24, 2006. During that chat, there was a question regarding the premium processing of I-140 petitions.

Dr. Gonzalez replied that I-140 Premium Processing will be “rolled out in several stages.” EB3 I-140 Premium Processing may begin as early as August 2006. He confirmed that the USCIS will make an announcement on the starting date when the premium processing will begin.

However, premium service for EB1 and EB2 will not be available immediately. It’s unclear when they would be rolled out by USCIS. We will monitor this important immigration issue and provide more information to you as soon as it is available.

Then, who can benefit from this premium service? How? The addition of this new premium processing will be a valuable tool for many people, especially those with an urgent timeframe to change status. For example, a great benefit of using premium processing for I-140 is to avail oneself of §104(c) of AC21 to obtain 3-year extensions of H1B status. Under the new policy, if a beneficiary has an approved I-140 petition but cannot complete the green card process due to retrogression, he can apply for a 3-year extension of H1B status at the end of the six-year H1B limitation period.