The USCIS has announced that it has expanded its Premium Processing Service to cover a range of I-140 immigrant visa petitions. The official notice from the Service states that as of this date, all Premium requests must use the new I-907N Request for Premium Processing service form.

Under the Premium Processing service, in exchange for the $1,000 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 a number of nonimmigrant workers, including those to permit foreign nationals to come to the U.S. temporarily in the H-1B, L-1, and O-1 classifications.

USCIS initially stated that effective August 28, 2006 it expanded Premium service to encompass permanent visa petitions for the EB-3 employment-based visa categories that cover workers whose permanent job positions require at least two years of work experience or a bachelor's degree. In a second announcement the agency expanded the range of the service effective September 25, 2006 to include many in higher preference categories, including EB-1 cases for outstanding professors and researchers, and for members of the professions with advanced degrees.

Both announcements were made on the USCIS website in accordance with a May 23, 2006 notice in the Federal Register.

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