USCIS announced that, as of Tuesday, February 19, it has resumed premium processing for all H-1B petitions filed on or before December 21, 2018.
An expedited process for facilitating swift adjudication of non-immigrant petitions, premium processing had been suspended in the H-1B context. USCIS further advised that if a transfer notice was received from the agency, premium processing submissions should be submitted to the service center where the petition has been transferred.
Premium processing guarantees a 15 calendar day processing time, and USCIS refunds the U.S. petitioner's fee of $1410 should it fail to take adjudicative action on the petition. USCIS further stated that it intends to resume premium processing for the remaining categories of H-1B petitions as agency workloads permit.
Temporary suspension of premium processing remains in effect for H-1B petitions to which it applied that were filed on or after December 22, 2018.
We will keep you posted on any updates from USCIS regarding the resumption of premium processing for other H-1B filings.
