USCIS Announces the Resumption, in Stages, of Premium Processing for I-129 and I-140 Petitions
USCIS has announced that it will resume Premium Processing of I-129 and I-140 petitions in stages over the course of June 2020. Just to clarify, Premium Processing is the expedited processing of I-129 petitions for temporary, nonimmigrant work visas/status, and of I-140 petitions for permanent residence based on employment, within 15 calendar days of filing the petition. USCIS has 15 days within which to request additional evidence, approve, or deny. USCIS routinely issues "Requests For Evidence" ("RFE") or "Notices of Intent to Deny" ("NOID") in order to stall for more time. Once the response to the RFE or NOID is submitted, USCIS will have another 15 calendar days within which to issue a follow-up RFE, issue a NOID, approve, or deny. For this expedited service, the petitioning employer or the beneficiary employee must pay a fee of $1,440. In spite of USCIS routinely stalling for time, the processing time is, nevertheless, typically faster than the regular processing time of several months, in most visa and permanent residence categories.
The stages of the resumption of Premium Processing will occur as follows:
On June 8, 2020, USCIS will resume offering premium processing for:
- H-1B petitions filed before June 8 that are pending adjudication and are cap-exempt (for example, petitions filed by petitioners that are cap-exempt and petitions filed for beneficiaries previously counted toward the numerical allocations).
- All other Form I-129 petitions (non H-1B petitions) for nonimmigrant classifications eligible for premium processing filed before June 8 that are pending adjudication.
On June 15, 2020, USCIS will resume offering premium processing for:
- H-1B 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).
On June 22, 2020, USCIS will resume offering 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 from F-1 nonimmigrant status, for both premium processing upgrades and concurrently filed I-907s.
- All other Form I-129 petitions for nonimmigrant classifications eligible for premium processing and requesting premium processing by filing an I-907 concurrently with their I-129.
All dates are subject to change as USCIS continues to take on more premium processing requests and USCIS will announce any changes to these dates accordingly. In other words, if USCIS finds that it is getting overwhelmed by the requests, they may postpone resumption of Premium Processing for the other categories until they have sufficient staffing to handle all of the requests within the 15-day processing time frame.