USCIS Premium Processing Expansion
As previously communicated by our office in January 2023, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has recently announced further details surrounding the immediate expansion and phasing in of optional Premium Processing for certain F-1 students seeking employment authorization under the following cases:
Effective March 6, 2023, USCIS will accept Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing (filed via paper form or online) for previously filed and pending Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization, so long as the Form I-765 was previously filed by an F-1 student requesting employment authorization under one of the following categories:
- (c)(3)(A) – Pre-Completion OPT;
- (c)(3)(B) – Post-Completion OPT; and
- (c)(3)(C) – 24-Month Extension of OPT for STEM students.
The upgrade to Premium Processing applies to either paper or online previously-filed Form I-765 as of March 6, 2023. For more details regarding creating a USCIS online account to link a previously filed and pending Form I-765 to an upgrade request to Premium Processing, please refer to the USCIS announcement.
Effective April 3, 2023, USCIS will begin to accept concurrently filed Form I-907 Premium Processing requests with new Form I-765 employment authorization requests, under the above employment authorization categories. Please note that USCIS will reject any new Premium Processing requests concurrently filed with new Form I-765 requests if they are received prior to April 3, 2023. Please refer to the USCIS announcement for more details.
Lastly, USCIS will continue to work towards expansion of Premium Processing availability of Form I-539, Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status. Specifically, in May 2023 USCIS is planning to expand Premium Processing eligibility for certain students and exchange visitors with pending Form I-539 applications, and in June 2023 expanding Premium Processing eligibility to initial Form I-539 applications. When USCIS is ready to implement the Form I-539 Premium Processing expansion phases, announcements will be released with details and specific dates.
OIS will continue to monitor USCIS announcements and will update UIC departments, international students, exchange visitors, and the international community accordingly. As always, if there are any questions or concerns about this announcement, please feel free to contact us at ois@uic.edu or (312) 996-3121.