USCIS Starts I-140 Premium Processing Services from 08/28/2006

USCIS Starts I-140 Premium Processing Services from 08/28/2006 AILA has reported the USCIS news release that the USCIS will start taking I-140 Premium Processing Request from August 28, 2006. This PPS will be limited to EB-3 Skilled Worker category and Professional category only and "other worker," commonly called unskilled worker category that requires less than two years of experience will not be able to file the PPS. It does not specifically mention about EX for Schedule A categories, but generally these Schedule A occupations are considered EB-3 Skilled Worker/Professional category for the purpose of the immigration statute and presumably the PPS may also be available to the Schedule A cases effective August 28, 2006. It is expected that the USCIS may clarify on this issue sooner or later. The USCIS is scheduled to release a new form I-907 on August 21, next Monday, but this form should not be used until August 28, 2006. Any PPS filing using the new form before August 28, 2006 will be rejected. At the same time any I-907 which will be filed on or after August 28, 2006 which uses the current I-907 version will be rejected. Please stay tuned for the USCIS release of this announcement in the public site. Launch of the I-140 Premium Processing Services will not affect the concurrent filing and people will be able to continue to file I-140 and I-485 concurrently until the USCIS publishes a regulation to terminate the concurrent filing procedure. For the benefits of I-140 PPS, please revisit the following post on the Breaking News site: "07/24/2006: I-140 Premium Processing to Start With EB-3 in August 2006 According to the Director of USCIS, the agency is scheduled to implement the Premium Processing Services beginning from EB-3 petitions in August. It is expected to be followed by other types of petitions within this year. The USCIS is reportedly to announce the EB-3 Premium Processing Services in the very near future. Please stay tuned. Lately, the USCIS has been experiencing delays in I-140 petition processing. The launch of I-140 petition premimum processing services, albeit limited to EB-3 cases only initially, may induce the EB-3 professionals to take advantage of the premium processing services for a number of reasons. (1) H-1B extension beyond the six-year limit in "3-year" increment. The services will be particularly valuable for those who could not file a H-1B extension beyond the six-year limit because they started the labor certification application after they reached five years in H-1B status. (2) The premium processing of I-140 will help those who need to change employment after 180 days of I-485 filing. The so-called Yates memo allows portability of I-140 petition even before the petition is approved iinasmuch as the alien can prove that the I-140 petition was "approvable at the time of filingl," the experience indicates that some risks accompanied such move and the legal counsels and the involved aliens were reluctant to change employment even after passage of 180 days after filing of I-485 unless the I-140 petition was first approved. Launch of the EB-3 I-140 premium processing services will help such aliens to achieve the needed change of employment under AC 21 Act in more or less risk free condition. (3)The premium processing of I-140 will also assist those aliens who need the retention of their priority date and transfer to another petition. Under the current law, the priority date of the employment based immigrant petition can be retained once the I-140 petition is approved and can be transferred to another petition. (4)Lastly, the I-140 premium processing will help those who will file a substitutiion of labor certification application before the rule is eliminated, apparently before April 2007. Under the proposed substitution elimination rule, the substitution will survice if the substitution is approved, When one attempts the substitution of alien beneficiary at the stage of I-140 petition, one will have no evidence that the USCIS "apprroved" the substitution until the substitutition I-140 petition is approved as the USCIS does not have a separate procedure to adjudicate the alien substitution request. It is handled as part of I-140 petition adjudication."