The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it will begin premium processing for certain fiscal year (FY) 2020 H-1B cap cases requesting a change of status on May 20, 2019 if a petitioner concurrently files a premium processing request with the H-1B cap petition.
Premium processing will be available in stages for the FY 2020 H-1B cap cases:
- Concurrent filing for H-1B cap change of status petitions: Between April 1-5, 2019, petitioners will be able to request premium processing concurrently with H-1B cap change of status petitions. However, USCIS will delay the start of the 15-day processing timeline for these cases until May 20, 2019.
- Upgrades to premium processing for H-1B cap change of status petitions: If petitioners do not file a request for premium processing concurrently with their H-1B cap petitions, they will need to wait until May 20 to upgrade their cases to premium processing.
- Upgrades for all other H-1B cap filings: Petitioners who file H-1B cap cases that are not requesting a change in status (including requests for consular processing) will be required to wait until June 2019 to upgrade to premium processing. These cases are not eligible for concurrent requests for premium processing.
USCIS also announced that it will not honor petitioners’ request to use pre-paid mailers to send FY 2020 H-1B cap approvals or other final notices between May 20 and June 3. Instead, H-1B cap approvals and other final notices will be sent via first-class mail during this period of time.
If you have any questions regarding this matter, please do not hesitate to contact our office.