On May 29, 2020, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it will resume premium processing for Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker, and Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers, in phases over the next month [PDF version]. Premium processing had been suspended since March 20, 2020, due to the effects of the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) situation.
Effective June 1, 2020, the USCIS will accept Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing Service for all eligible Form I-140 petitions.
Effective June 8, 2020, the USCIS will resume premium processing for all non-H1B eligible Form I-129 petitions that are pending adjudication as of June 8. Regarding H1B petitions, the USCIS will accept premium processing requests for those that were filed before June 8, that are pending adjudication, and are cap-exempt.
Effective June 15, 2020, the USCIS will resume premium processing for H1B petitions requesting premium processing by filing the Form I-907 concurrently with the Form I-129, provided that the petition is cap-exempt. This means that petitions filed by cap-exempt employers, on behalf of beneficiaries working at qualifying cap-exempt institutions, or on behalf of beneficiaries who received Conrad or Interested Government Agency waivers will be eligible for premium processing.
Effective June 22, 2020, the USCIS will resume premium processing for all eligible Form I-129 petitions not specified above. This includes all cap-subject H1B petitions and all other eligible petitions requesting premium processing concurrently with the filing of the petition.
We will update the site with more information if the USCIS modifies its plan to resume premium processing. We discuss premium processing for Form I-129 [see article] and for Form I-140 petitions [see article] in separate articles on site.
