March 13, 2023

Premium Processing Now Available for F-1 Students Seeking OPT

Dear Stakeholder,

For the first time ever, international F-1 students can request premium processing for their Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization filed under one of these categories:

• (c)(3)(A): Pre-completion optional practical training (OPT)
• (c)(3)(B): Post-completion OPT
• (c)(3)(C): 24-month extension of OPT for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) students

If you fall into an eligible category above and:

• Your Form I-765 is already pending with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS): As of March 6, you may request premium processing
• You have not submitted your Form I-765 yet: Starting on Monday, April 3, you can submit a premium processing request together with your Form I-765 requesting OPT

How To Request Premium Processing

To request premium processing, you must submit the edition of Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing Service dated November 3, 2022. USCIS no longer accepts previous editions of Form I-907.

You may submit the form online through your USCIS online account or by paper. If you want to submit the Form I-907 online but already filed a paper Form I-765, follow the account access notice instructions that USCIS sent you to link your paper Form I-765 to your online account.

Please note you must pay the Form I-907 fee separately from the Form I-765 filing fees. If you submit a single, combined fee payment for multiple forms, USCIS will reject your entire filing.

Why This Matters

While we are pleased to see USCIS offer premium processing to students applying for OPT, we continue to hear stakeholder feedback in support of expanding premium processing to additional applicants and regularly raise this feedback with USCIS.

USCIS announced it intends to further expand premium processing in 2023:

• May: For certain student and exchange visitors with a pending Form I-539, Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status
• June: For certain student and exchange visitors filing initial Form I-539 applications

More Information

View USCIS’ news release for additional information. For more information on how to link a paper-filed Form I-765 to your online account, see USCIS’ How to Create a USCIS Online Account (step 13) and How do I Get a New Online Access Code? pages.

The CIS Ombudsman is dedicated to assisting individuals and employers seeking to resolve problems with USCIS. We held an Interagency Engagement on International Student Issues in August 2022 and posted follow-up questions and answers on topics such as OPT, reinstatement, and the Form I-765.

For more information on our office, please visit www.dhs.gov/cisombudsman or follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

Please complete the CIS Ombudsman Customer Satisfaction Survey. We appreciate your feedback.

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