The Return of Premium Processing Services

Good news -- Premium Processing services will return for Forms I-129 and I-140 in increments over the next month. The premium processing service for Form I-140 Immigration Petition for Alien Workers will return first on June 1st, 2020. However, this does not include EB-1C multinational manager petitions and EB-2 national interest waiver petitions.

On June 8th, USCIS will accept requests to upgrade, through Form I-907, cap-counted H-1B petitions to premium processing services, provided the pending petition was filed before June 8th. These include change or extension of status petitions, change of employer petitions and "recapture" of previously-approved H-1B status.  All other non-H1B petitions that are eligible for premium processing can also upgrade if filed before June 8th, 2020.

On June 15th, H-1B petitioners that are cap-exempt (e.g., government research organization) or because employment will be at a qualifying institution or because a J visa Conrad waiver has been granted can be filed concurrently with form I-907.

The rest of the I-129 petition categories will resume premium processing on June 22nd. This includes filing to upgrade pending cap-subject (H-1B visa lottery) petitions, such as those filed for FY2021. Concurrent I-907 and I-129 filing will also return on this date for all other eligible I-129 non-immigrant visa petitions such as L-1A and L-1B petitions.

A note for those that filed using premium processing before it was suspended on March 20th: if your petition was not processed and you received a refund, you can refile according to the instructions above.


(Immigration laws and policies change regularly.  If you have any questions regarding this article, please visit www.1visa1.com to schedule legal consultation.)