News Alert: Premium Processing Resumes for Select Applications

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will resume premium processing for certain cap-exempt H-1B petitions effective immediately.  As discussed in our June 21st news advisory, USCIS is taking an incremental approach to resuming H-1B Premium services by limiting the service to certain applicant groups. 

Today's announcement is good news for cap-exempt institutions. Premium processing will resume if the H-1B petitioner is:

* An institution of higher education;

* A nonprofit related to or affiliated with an institution of higher education; or

* A nonprofit research or governmental research organization.

Premium processing will also resume for petitions that may also be exempt if the beneficiary will be employed AT a qualifying cap-exempt institution, organization or entity.

Starting today, those cap-exempt petitioners who are eligible for premium processing can file Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing Service together with an H-1B petition or separately for a pending case.

USCIS previously announced that premium processing resumed on June 26 for H-1B petitions filed on behalf of physicians under the Conrad 30 waiver program as well as interested government agency waivers.

USCIS plans to resume premium processing of other H-1B petitions as workloads permit.  Until then, premium processing remains temporarily suspended for all other H-1B petitions.