September 18, 2017
USCIS will resume Premium Processing for H-1B visa petitions subject to the 2018 Fiscal Year cap
USCIS announced today that Premium Processing will resume for H-1B visa petitions subject to the Fiscal Year 2018 cap. This includes the cap limit of 65,000 H-1B visas as well as 20,000 additional visas for workers with a U.S. master’s degree or higher. Premium Processing will only be available for pending petitions and not for any new petitions. USCIS’s Premium Processing service guarantees a response from the government on a petition within 15 days and requires an additional $1225 filing fee.
Premium Processing has already resumed for H-1B petitions filed on behalf of physicians participating in the Conrad-30 waiver program, interested government agency waivers, and for certain H-1B petitions not subject to the cap.
For all other H-1B petitions, Premium Processing remains temporarily suspended. According to USCIS, they plan to resume Premium Processing for other H-1B petitions as agency workloads permit.
If you are interested in “upgrading” a currently pending H-1B petition to Premium Processing, please contact our office.