USCIS resumes premium processing for certain petitions

On May 29, 2020, the US Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) announced the resumption of its Premium Process service for certain non-immigrant and immigrant visa petitions during the next month. The planned schedule is as follows:

1. Effective Monday, June 1, USCIS will resume premium processing for all eligible Form I-140, Immigrant Visa Petitions for Alien Workers.
2. Effective June 8, USCIS will accept premium processing requests for certain Form I-129, Non-immigrant Visa Petitions, including:
   • Cap Exempt H-1B Non-immigrant Visa Petitions filed before June 8, 2020, that are currently pending with USCIS (i.e., H-1B visa petitions filed by petitioners that are cap-exempt and petitions filed for beneficiaries previously counted toward the H-1B CAP numerical quota)
   • All other Form I-129 petitions (i.e., L-1A and L-1B, TN, and O-1 categories) for non-immigrant classifications eligible for premium processing filed before June 8, that are pending adjudication with USCIS
3. Effective June 15, USCIS plans on resuming premium processing for: 
   • H-1B visa petitions requesting premium processing by filing an I-907 concurrently with their I-129 (or request for a petition filed on or after June 8) and are exempt from the cap because:
     • The employer is cap-exempt or because the beneficiary will be employed at a qualifying cap-exempt institution, entity or organization (such as an institution of higher education, a nonprofit research organization or a governmental research organization); or
     • The beneficiary is cap-exempt based on a Conrad/IGA waiver under INA section 214(l)
4. Effective June 22, USCIS plans on resuming premium processing for all other Form I-129 petitions, including:
   • All H-1B cap-subject petitions (including those for fiscal year 2021), including change of status petitions (from F-1 visa status to H-1B visa status
   • All other Form I-129 petitions for non-immigrant classifications eligible for premium processing and requesting premium processing by filing an I-907 concurrently with their I-129 (i.e., any newly filed L-1A, L-1B, TN, and O-1 non-immigrant visa petition)

USCIS notes that the above-listed dates are subject to change as it continues to take on more premium processing requests and will announce any changes to these dates accordingly.