USCIS resumes premium processing for fiscal year 2019 H-1B quota cases; holds off on the other H-1B petitions
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Pasricha & Patel Takeaways:
USCIS has announced that it is resuming premium processing (expedited 15-day processing time) for those H-1B petitions that were filed in April 2018 and for which the USCIS has not yet finished adjudicating those petitions.
There probably are not too many of those cases left, as most of the H-1B quota cases from last year should have been adjudicated by now. However, this announcement can certainly help ease the anxieties of those affected H-1B petitioners and their beneficiaries as they have been waiting for about ten (10) months to hear back from the USCIS.
Do note that in this same announcement, the USCIS does clarify that it is not yet ready to accept premium processing requests for non-H1B quota cases. Initially, USCIS had announced last year that it would resume premium processing for all H-1B petitions starting on February 19, 2019. However, in this latest announcement, the USCIS makes no mention of that specific date. Instead, it simply states that it would resume premium processing for the rest of the H-1B cases based on the USCIS’s workload.
Our office will continue to monitor any developments regarding premium processing with the USCIS, and we encourage everyone to contact our office to set up consultation so that we may address any concerns you may have regarding the immigration process.