With little notice, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) resumes Premium Processing on Tuesday, March 12, 2019, for ALL H-1B petitions, including both pending and future petitions. With the filing of USCIS Form I-907 and the payment of an additional filing fee of $1,410, Premium Processing guarantees a 15-day processing time or a review of the case. Additional USCIS instructions with respect to the conversion to Premium Processing of certain pending H-1B petitions are as follows:

• If you received a Request for Evidence (RFE), include the RFE response with the Premium Processing request.

• If you received a Transfer Notice for a pending H-1B petition, the Premium Processing request must be sent to the service center now handling the case with a copy of the Transfer Notice.

The resumption of Premium Processing is good news and will include all H-1B cap-subject cases that can be filed starting April 1, 2019.

The use of Premium Processing is a quick way to determine if a case is chosen in the H-1B lottery if, as we expect, more than 85,000 H-1B petitions will be filed within the first 5 business days of April.

The resumption of Premium Processing is also beneficial for H-1B petition extensions where a decision is needed expeditiously due to international travel needs.