USCIS ANNOUNCES PLANS TO RESUME PREMIUM PROCESSING, BY LAWMAKS

Last week USCIS announced plans to reopen services and offices on June 1, 2020. In furtherance of this agenda, USCIS released the blueprint for restarting Premium Processing Services for certain petitions. On Friday, May 29, 2020, USCIS gave the timeline for resuming premium processing for Form I-129 and Form I-140 petitions after their temporary suspension of them due to the COVID-19 pandemic on March 20, 2020.

For those who have already filed Forms I-129 and I-140 but have received no action and no refund can refile their premium processing I-907 form in accordance with the same guideline below. 

Effective June 1st, 2020 USCIS will accept:

• Form I-907 (Request for Premium Processing Service) for all eligible Form I-140 petitions. 

Effective June 8th, 2020 USCIS will accept premium process requests for:

• H-1B petitions that are cap-exempt

• All other Form I-129 petitions for nonimmigrant classifications eligible for premium processing 

Petitions that qualify for the June 8th date must already be pending adjudication and must have been filed before June 8th.

Effective June 15th, 2020 USCIS plans to resume 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 for the following reasons:

  • The employer is cap-exempt or because the beneficiary will be employed at a qualifying cap-exempt institution, entity or organization; or 

  • The beneficiary is cap-exempt based on a Conrad/IGA waiver under INA section 214(l).

Effective June 22, 2020 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 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.

Although these dates are subject to change, USCIS believes it is a feasible timeline to restart premium processing petitions. USCIS has continued to process petitions that were filed before the temporary suspension in March and as we see a decrease in the COVID pandemic it seems we are seeing an increase in USCIS activity.

Disclaimer: The content in this newsletter should not be construed as legal advice.  We encourage you to contact an Immigration Attorney for any immigration law questions you may have. Furthermore, the content herein is the work product of LAWMAKS and should not be copied or redistributed in any form or fashion by any individual or entity.