I did premium processing after waiting 20 months and got approved without any RFEs. I already filed I485 and completed biometric recently. My experience is they are not approving I140 without premium processing in many cases. My friend who applied on December, 2023 got approval after 482 days. I applied on January 2024 and no approval even after 600 days. In visa bulletin, my priority date was current for filing and I tried premium processing. I think the processing of I140 is slow for those people who applied after December, 2023 in the case of regular processing for Nebraska service center.

@B B yes this is on point. we applied in 1st February 2024 and are current now but still waiting… almost about 2 years will complete the next month.

My priority date was January 22, 2024 for I140. They took almost 50 days to approve when I did premium processing at the middle of September. Rightnow, my action date is current as well. Recently they are assigning REFs for those who are requesting premium processing. Incase of Texas service center, they are fast. Incase of Nebraska service center, they are slow. Maybe they are intentionally not approving for those who are waiting without premium processing, and it is just to get 2800$ extra money. Otherwise why they are moving filing date and action date so fast without approving I140? It suggests like they want to receive premium processing money.

I have similar dates as Mrs. Ammad…we applied Feb 1 2024, regular processing at the Nebraska service center. I am still waiting, nearly two years now.

my question I’m 500 days, my service center is Texas, what is the chance of my case be adjudicated in the next 90 days? because I will have to contact my lawyer, to fill the premium processing, sending and etc that will that about 90days to be fill, send + 45 days for uscis analysis, I’m just asking because I don’t want to pay $2880 + lawyer fees if is close, also I will have to pay around 5k for me and my wife in fee for the I-485 plus work permit, social and parole. só is worth pay? or no? I know paying won’t garante approval only will garante they will analyze my case.

@B B what do you think?

I think people who applied around July/August 2024 are getting decisions in the case of Texas service center. If you are in F1 visa/H1B visa and no difficulty of maintaining your immigration status, you can always wait. If you are near graduation or H1B visa is expiring, it is better that you try premium processing. lawyer didn’t charge anything for premium processing in my case. I had almost zero rejection chances because I have master degree from USA and first author and co-author papers in Nature communications when I submitted. I had first author paper in Nature communications and co-authored paper in Science after submitting application. Nature communications and Science are the strongest journals. I had almost zero chance of rejection and I tried premium processing. so I tried it. Regarding I485, I tried through Lawyer. But, my several friends tried by themselves because they have wife and kid and didn’t want to pay 5k fee in the I485 application for lawyers. If your profile or application is strong, you can consider premium processing fee as an investment and try it. If you think that “your application is not very strong”, it is better to wait. I am not trying to discourage you. Currently approval rate for EB2 NIW is lower because of many applications from November 2023. Having a strong application and good research profile is always important for approval. You can write a another separate post and ask lawfully users of Texas service center regarding I140 decision time. Someone who submitted I140 application to Texas service center on July 2024 got decision on the middle of December 2025. He recently posted in this app.

@B B Thank you for sharing with us. I submitted to TSC November 24 regular processing. My country is among banned list. I am confused whether to pay pp or if they paused processing of banned countries. Do you have any idea?

@Testimony N if you are already inside the USA, you can do premium processing. If USCIS don’t give decision within 45 business days, they have to return the money. They don’t stop the processing of banned countries. If you are staying inside the banned countries and trying to get green card, then it will create the visa problems.

@B B how do you know that the approval rate is lower because many applications from November 2023?

@Renata Mendonca most of my friends who applied before October got I140 approval within 15 months. My friend who applied before December 15 got I140 approval within 18 months. Those people who applied after December 15, they are not getting I140 approval. Then I had studied the number of application submitted per year and approval rate in google. In 2022, EB2 approval rate was 95%. In 2025, EB2 approval rate was between 60 and 70%. In 2022, USCIS used to observe like 10000 applications per year and no backlog. In 2025, USCIS are getting like 80000 applications per year. USCIS usually process 40000 applications per year. so many are pending. we used to wait until having 50 to 100 citations. Now people are applying for I140 with 2 citations 2 papers. Main reason is most of international students from Asia and Africa doesn’t have a plan to return their country after Master and PhD education. Applying for NIW EB2 is like fashion. People who get PhD from Japan, Korean and European countries, they are also coming usa by applying EB2 NIW. That’s why there is more demand of EB2 NIW and more backlogs recently.

@Testimony N When I was talking with my friend whose country was recently added to banned list, he told me that he talked with his lawyer and his lawyer said him “for the EAD card and green card approval, it will create problems. They will hold the EAD card and green card approval decision. Additionally they are also rechecking the recently approved green cards of those countries. For I485 approval, it could affect until country of applicant is in banned list.”. For the I140, they don’t care about the country. They will evaluate on the basis of your research profile but not on the basis of citizenship status. You should be Okay for Premium Processing of I140.

@B B Oh no! Then what is the point of pp?😩 Is there any hope of ban lifting anytime soon?

@Testimony N It sounds like there is no any benefit of PP. My classmate/friend just submitted I485 application and his country was recently added to banned list. He is hopeless. I asked him to go church regularly and pray for I485 approval. We can only pray to god.