Premium Processing is Coming Back for All H-1B Petitions Starting March 12

USCIS announced that it will resume premium processing service for all H-1B petitions starting Tuesday, March 12, 2019. This follows an earlier announcement by USCIS last month, which partially resumed premium processing, but only for H-1B petitions that were filed on or before December 21, 2018.

USCIS initially suspended the use of premium process for H-1B cap applications on April 2, 2018, and later expanded the suspension to other categories of H-1B petitions on September 11, 2018.

Today’s announcement means that the premium processing service, which provides expedited (15 day) processing for an additional government filing fee of $1,410, can now be utilized for all H-1B petitions filed going forward. Also, petitioners may now file requests to upgrade any pending H-1B petitions if desired. In other words, there is no longer any restrictions on using premium processing for any H-1B petitions.

For petitioners seeking to upgrade a pending H-1B petition that had received a Request for Evidence (RFE), a copy of the RFE should be included with the premium processing upgrade request. For petitioners seeking to upgrade an H-1B petition where a transfer notice was issued, the premium processing upgrade request must be submitted to the USCIS Service Center now handling the petition and a copy of the transfer notice should be included.

If you are interested in upgrading a pending H-1B petition to premium processing, or have questions about filing a new H-1B petition with premium processing, please contact your Ellis Porter attorney and we will be happy to assist.