{"id":2887,"date":"2020-01-30T17:23:49","date_gmt":"2020-01-30T22:23:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.harringtonlawassociates.com\/?p=2887"},"modified":"2024-06-06T16:40:02","modified_gmt":"2024-06-06T20:40:02","slug":"premium-processing-business-visas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/myhlaw.com\/es\/premium-processing-business-visas\/","title":{"rendered":"IMMIGRATION: Premium Processing for Business Visas"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>What is Premium Processing?<\/h2>\n<p>Premium processing is a expedited service offered by the USCIS for certain visa types.\u00a0 There is an extra charge, which adjusts from time to time (currently $2,805).\u00a0 The advantage of premium processing is that you will get a <em>response<\/em> to the application <strong>within 15 days<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0Currently, the USCIS offers Premium Processing for the following Visa applications:<\/p>\n<h4>I-129 Petitions<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>H visas<\/li>\n<li>L-1 visas<\/li>\n<li>O visas<\/li>\n<li>P visas<\/li>\n<li>Q-1 visas<\/li>\n<li>R-1 visas &#8211; <em>only if the petitioner has passed an on-site inspection<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>I-140 Petitions<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>EB visas (all)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>The 15-day deadline<\/h2>\n<p>The clock starts the day the USCIS receives your Form I-907, along with payment.\u00a0 Usually, the I-907 is filed along with the rest of the petition package but, if you decide after filing the main package that you want premium processing, you can do that by electronically filing the I-907 by itself.<\/p>\n<p>If you pay for Premium Processing but do not get a response within 15 days, the USCIS will refund the fee you paid for the Premium Processing (not the other filing fees, though).\u00a0 And, the USCIS will continue to process the petition on an expedited basis.\u00a0 So, you basically get expedited treatment for free.<\/p>\n<h2>Other considerations<\/h2>\n<p>While the idea of paying a little extra to speed up the visa process sounds fantastic, there are some caveats to keep in mind.\u00a0 First, the USCIS does not promise you will get a <em>decision<\/em> within 15 days.\u00a0 Technically, the examiner only has to make one of four responses:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Approval Notice<\/strong> &#8211; this is ideal<\/li>\n<li><strong>Request for Evidence<\/strong> &#8211; this is less than ideal but not a killer<\/li>\n<li><strong>Notice of Intent to Deny<\/strong> &#8211; this is definitely not good but might be surmountable<\/li>\n<li><strong>Commencing an investigation for fraud or misrepresentation<\/strong> &#8211; uh oh . . .<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Also, be aware that, even if your petition is approved within 15 days, that does not mean you will immediately have your visa.\u00a0 In most cases, you will still have to go through the US embassy\/consulate in your home country for the interview and actual issuance of the visa.\u00a0 So, that means you will be subject to the local embassy\/consulate&#8217;s scheduling calendar.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/myhlaw.com\/category\/immigration\/\"><strong>HLA&#8217;s Immigration Practice<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<h2>The skeptics say . . .<\/h2>\n<p>One of the common criticisms is that Examiners simply issue Requests for Evidence (RFE) for each and every petition filed with Premium Processing.\u00a0 What some of us immigration attorneys suspect is that it is unrealistic for Examiners to get through the <em>very<\/em> substantial documentation that goes along with these business visa petitions within 15 days.\u00a0 The packages tend to be 200+ pages, and God only knows how many of these packages each Examiner has on his\/her desk.\u00a0 At the same time, the USCIS surely does not want to refund Premium Processing fees left and right.\u00a0 So, what options do they have?<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>The Examiners just trump up some excuse for issuing an RFE &#8212; which is not hard to do &#8212; and they have the best of both worlds.\u00a0 They get the extra time they need to properly review the package but without having to refund the Premium Processing fee.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Nobody knows for sure what really happens behind the curtain, but some of this speculation does stand to reason.\u00a0 Now, if you want to try to speed up the process, I suppose there is no harm done by paying for Premium Processing.\u00a0 All you have to lose is the extra fee.\u00a0 So, if time is of the essence, you should certainly give it a try.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>Make sure you get an attorney that will submit a very complete and accurate package along with the Premium Processing fee.\u00a0 Also, make sure the package is organized as well as humanly possible in order to make things easier for the Examiner.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>If you do that, maybe the Examiner will not feel the need to issue an RFE and will simply approve the petition.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 680px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/myhlaw.com\/attorneys\/jeffrey-harrington-esq\/\">~ Jeff Harrington, Esq.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Premium processing is a expedited service offered by the USCIS for certain visa types.\u00a0 There is an extra charge, which adjusts from time to time (currently $1,440).\u00a0 The advantage of premium processing is that you will get a response to the application within 15 days.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2888,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[288,287,286],"class_list":["post-2887","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-immigration","tag-business-visas","tag-premium-processing","tag-uscis"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/myhlaw.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/myhlaw.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/myhlaw.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myhlaw.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myhlaw.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2887"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/myhlaw.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2887\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myhlaw.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/myhlaw.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myhlaw.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myhlaw.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}