Premium Processing for I-140 Petitions: Is It Worth It?
By Ben Wisniewski
For employment-based green card applicants, the I-140 Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker is a crucial step in obtaining U.S. permanent residency. Processing times for I-140 petitions can vary significantly, sometimes taking several months or even years, depending on the USCIS service center handling the case and workload fluctuations. To address these delays, premium processing offers the option ofan expedited review for certain types of I-140 petitions, for an additional $2,805 filing fee. For this price, USCIS will adjudicate EB-1A, EB-1B, EB-2 (not seeking NIW), and EB-3 I-140 petitions within 15 business days, or adjudicate EB-1C or NIW EB-2 petitions within 45 business days.
However, while premium processing speeds up the I-140 adjudication, it does not necessarily accelerate the overall green card process, particularly for people from countries with long visa backlogs. Before opting for this service, it is essential to weigh the pros and cons carefully.
Pros of Premium Processing
The most significant benefit of premium processing is the guaranty of shortened adjudication time. With premium processing, USCIS commits to either approve, deny, or issue a Request for Evidence (RFE) within the 15-day or 45-day period after receiving the petition. For individuals who are waiting to transition jobs, secure visa extensions, or obtain permanent residency quickly, this faster timeline can be beneficial in some situations.
A long wait time for an I-140 decision can cause anxiety for people and their employers. With premium processing, there is no uncertainty about when a decision will be made. Even if an RFE is issued, theywill at least know where their case stands rather than waiting indefinitely.For universities or research institutions sponsoring EB-1B (Outstanding Professors and Researchers) petitions, premium processing can help them make quicker hiring decisions regarding foreign employees.
Under current immigration rules, a person can extend their H1B beyond the 6-year limit, under certain conditions including: 1) 365 days or more have passed since the filing of application for labor certification or the filing of an I-140 petition, and the I-140 is still pending; or 2)The personhas an approved I-140 petition but is not able to file to adjust status to U.S. permanent legal residence based on the unavailability of an immigrant visa number.
Based on this second condition above, premium processing can be very helpful if someone with a strong case has not yet filed I-140 or labor certificate but they have less than 1 year left before reaching the 6-year H1B limit, and they are from a country with a priority date that has not been reached in the visa bulletin. In this situation, a speedy I-140 approval would allow them to extend their H1B beyond 6 years.
Example: Dr. X is a researcher from China in America with an H1B visa that will reach 6 year limit and expire in 8 months. Dr. X’s employer does not intend to sponsor him for immigration, so Dr. X decides to file self-petitioned NIW EB-2 case and the case is very strong. Since his H1B will expire in 8 months, it is impossible for his NIW I-140 to pend for 365 before his H1B expires. In this situation, premium processing is valuable because if Dr. X’s I-140 is successful, he now has a path to extend his H1B since the EB2 category will not be current in the visa bulletin when the I-140 is approved.
Cons of Premium Processing
One of the biggest misconceptions about premium processing is that it speeds up the entire green card process. In reality, it only accelerates the I-140 adjudication and does not influence the availability of visa numbers.
For employment-based green cards, the priority date—the date USCIS receives the PERM labor certification (for EB-2 PERM and EB-3 PERM cases) or the I-140 petition (for EB-1 and EB-2 NIW cases)—determines when an applicant can proceed with their I-485 Adjustment of Status or consular processing. If the priority date is not current (meaning visa numbers are not available according to the monthly Visa Bulletin), an approved I-140 may provide little immediate benefit.
For example, EB-2 and EB-3 beneficiariesfrom India and China often face multi-year visa backlogs due to annual per-country limits on green cards. Even if their I-140 is approved in 15 days, they may still have to wait years before filing the I-485.
Expedited processing does not increase the chances of approval. If the case lacks sufficient evidence, USCIS will issue an RFE within 15 days or 45 days, meaning that despite the higher fee, the process could still be delayed. Also, the USCIS Premium Processing Unit is given a very limited amount of time to review the application. Some reports are that officers are encouraged to make a determination within 15 to 20 minutes if Premium Processing is used. Some attorneys believe that if you have a borderline case, which would not immediately impress the officer, Premium Processing could do more harm than good.
Just as there are situations where premium processing could help H1B extension, there are other times where using premium processing would be unwise for maximizing H1B extension. As mentioned in the “pros” section of this article, an H1B can be extended past 6 years if 365 days or more have passed since the filing of the labor certificate or I-140 petition. With this in mind, sometimes its best to let the case pend with USCIS and hope that it takes a year or more to be processed. If you are doing a self-sponsored case, and you have enough time left on your visa for the case to pend 365 days, then it may better to avoid premium processing so you can extend yourH-1B past the 6 year limit, if the I-140 has not been concluded in one year. This is especially true if someone has a difficult or borderline case.
Example: Dr. X is a researcher from China in America with an H1B visa that will reach 6 year limit and expires in 16 months. Dr. X’s employer does not intend to sponsor him for immigration, so Dr. X decides to file self-petitioned NIW EB-2 case, but the case is a little weak. In this situation, Mr. X should not use premium processing. If the case is quickly denied, it can’t be used for extending the H1B. However, if the I-140 pends for 365 days, then this case can be used to extend the H1B.
Finally, another potential concern with using premium processing is that it could increase the chance of a child ageing-out, i.e. becoming 21 and no longer being able to use their parents I-140 approval for their own green card. To understand why, we must look at the Child Status Protection Act (CSPA), a law aimed at decreasing the number of children who were aging out during the process. CSPA calculates the child’s age as - Age at time of visa availability minus the time the I-140 was pending. If there is legit fear of your child aging out, due to child’s advanced age or long wait time for the category priority date, then you would want to subtract as much time from the child’s age as possible under CSPA. So that means you don’t want to use premium processing. Instead, you want the I-140 to pend as long as possible.
Example: Dr. Y is a researcher from India and he plans to file a self-sponsored NIW I-140 petition. Dr. Y has a 10 year old son. When Dr. Y files his NIW I-140, the visa backlog for EB-2 category for India is 12 years. If the case is approved and this visa becomes available in 12 years, his son will be 22 years old. In this case, Dr. Y should not use premium processing since he wants to subtract at least 1 year from his son’s age, while the case was pending. If he initially files it with premium processing and it is approved in 45 days, then he can only subtract 45 days from his son’s age in the future.
Conclusion:
While premium processing offers speed and predictability, it does not accelerate the overall green card process if visa numbers are not available. Applicants from countries with long priority date backlogs (such as India and China under EB-2 and EB-3) should carefully evaluate whether the extra fee is worth it.Before opting for premium processing, it’s essential to check the Visa Bulletin and assess whether a faster I-140 approval provides any practical benefits. For many applicants, premium processing is useful in certain situations—but in others, it may simply be an unnecessary and potentially harmful expense.
About Attorney Bennett Wisniewski
Attorney Bennett Wisniewski is a Senior Attorney at Attorney at Zhang & Associates, PC. With over 18 years of experience in business immigration law, he has successfully handled hundreds of immigration cases, including EB1A, EB1B, NIW, O-1 visa, and Adjustment of Status or Consulate Processing cases.
For more information about legal services, please contact Attorney Bennett Wisniewski at bwisniewski@hooyou.com.
Founded in 1996, Zhang & Associates, P.C. offers legal services to clients worldwide in all aspects of U.S immigration law. We have successfully handled over ten thousand immigration cases.
At Zhang & Associates, P.C., our attorneys and supporting professionals are committed to providing high-quality immigration and non-immigration visa services. We specialize in NIW, EB-1, PERM, I-485 I-130, H-1B, O, L and J cases. In the past
over twenty years, we have successfully helped over ten thousand clients get green cards. If you plan to apply for a green card, please send your CV to Attorney Jerry Zhang (info@hooyou.com) for a free evaluation.
Zhang & Associates, P.C.
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(03/16/2025)