Some (rare) positive news on the H-1B front. USCIS has announced that they are resuming premium processing for all H-1B petitions filed on or before December 21, 2018. This announcement expands upon USCIS’ previous resumption of premium processing for all FY 2019 cap-subject H-1B petitions to include non-cap subject H-1B transfers and extensions (other than continuation of previously approved employment without change with the same employer, which was already eligible for premium processing).
Copied from USCIS:
USCIS will resume premium processing on Tuesday, Feb. 19, for all H-1B petitions filed on or before Dec. 21, 2018. If you received a transfer notice for a pending H-1B petition, and you are requesting premium processing service, you must submit the premium processing request to the service center now handling the petition. You should also include a copy of the transfer notice with your premium processing request to avoid possible delays associated with the receipt of your premium processing request. Additionally, if you received a request for evidence (RFE) for a pending petition, you should also include the RFE response with the premium processing request. If your petition was transferred and you send your premium processing request to the wrong center, USCIS will forward it to the petition’s current location. However, the premium processing clock will not start until the premium processing request has been received at the correct center.
Please use the below table to determine where you should send your premium processing request if USCIS transferred your petition:
| If your petition was transferred to the… | Send your premium processing request to… |
|---|---|
|
Nebraska Service Center |
USPS:
USCIS Nebraska Service Center FedEx, UPS, and DHL deliveries: USCIS Nebraska Service Center |
|
Vermont Service Center |
USPS, FedEx, UPS, and DHL deliveries:
USCIS Vermont Service Center |
When an H-1B petitioner properly requests the agency’s premium processing service, USCIS guarantees a 15-day processing time. If we do not take certain adjudicative action within the 15‑calendar day processing time, USCIS refunds the petitioner’s premium processing service fee and continues with expedited processing of the petition.
The previously announced temporary suspension of premium processing remains in effect for H-1B petitions to which it applied that were filed on or after Dec. 22, 2018. On Jan. 28, we resumed premium processing for FY 2019 cap-subject petitions, including those eligible for the advanced degree exemption. We plan to resume premium processing for the remaining categories of H‑1B petitions as agency workloads permit.
We will continue to notify the public via uscis.gov when we begin accepting premium processing for other categories of H-1B petitions.