Making an expedited request with USCIS

Published: December 9, 2021

Not everybody has the luxury of waiting for the release of requests filed with USCIS under regular processing periods. If you are one of them, the best legal solution would be to file a Request to Expedite Application/s. The USCIS may consider all requests to expedite. Still, its grant or denial will be up to the agency’s sole discretion.

General Reminders

Any applicant may file a request to expedite their application, but the USCIS grants requests on a case-by-case basis. It means that the agency observes no hard and fast rules when expediting requests. Applicants should also be ready with supporting papers to prove that their petition is eligible under existing policies.

Eligible Criteria

The USCIS may only expedite applications when they fall under one of the following criteria:

1. USCIS’ Error

The USCIS may commit mistakes while processing applications. Suppose you can prove that such errors caused a delay in your application. In that case, the agency may be more than willing to expedite your petition. Sometimes the USCIS commits clerical errors, especially on details involving dates. There have been instances where USCIS released a Green Card with an eight-year expiry instead of the regular ten (10) years.

2. Urgent Humanitarian Reasons

“Urgent Humanitarian Reasons” covers situations involving applicants or their family members residing outside the United States who may have vulnerabilities related to age, disability, or living circumstances. This term may also relate to circumstances in which applicants or their family members are endangered due to existing wars in their home country or suffer from a sudden grave illness.

3. Severe Financial Loss to a Person or Company

When raising severe financial loss as a basis for the request to expedite, applicants must prove that the loss is not a result of their failure to timely file the benefit request or respond to requests for additional evidence. The loss may not only pertain to the applicant. USCIS may approve the request to expedite if the applicant proves that another person or entity may suffer financial loss if the government does not resolve the application immediately.

4. Compelling U.S. Government Interests

The USCIS may also grant your request to expedite when it affects the country’s national interests, government interests, or public safety. Notable examples of compelling government interests are cases involving agencies like the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Department of Labor, or the DHS.

Expedition of Appeal

Applicants with petitions under appeal may also request to expedite the same. They should include the requests with the appeal. The reviewing body for the expedite requests will be the same office that will issue the decision on the appeal. When filing for a request to expedite an appeal, the applicant should attach the following:

1. Cover letter clearly marked “EXPEDITE REQUEST”

2. Relevant documentary evidence

Invalid Expedite Requests

While the USCIS generally accepts requests to expedite applications, there are always exceptions to the general rule. Here are examples:

1. Premium Processing

For a fee, premium processing guarantees a 15-day processing period. It is available to applications for Form I-129 (Petition for Nonimmigrant Worker) and Form I-140 (Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker). By using this service, an applicant cannot request to expedite a petition further.

2. Applicant’s Failure

The USCIS will not accept requests for expedited processing when the applicant files beyond the allowable time frame. In this case, the applicant is at fault and should suffer their delay.

3. Employment Purposes

Applicants may not expedite the processing of their Employment Authorization Document (EAD) to start working earlier than what their contract provides.

More Services Available

There are more applications that cannot be expedited. Our Los Angeles immigration lawyers have proven experience in processing different types of visas, handling immigration cases, and everything else in between.