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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that it will resume premium processing for Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker and Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers, in the following phases over the next month:

June 1, 2020 – USCIS will accept Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing Service for all eligible Form I-140 petitions.

June 8, 2020 – USCIS will accept premium processing requests for:

• H-1B petitions filed before June 8 that are pending adjudication and are cap-exempt (for example, petitions filed by petitioners that are cap-exempt and petitions filed for beneficiaries previously counted toward the numerical allocations).
• All other Form I-129 petitions (non H-1B petitions) for nonimmigrant classifications eligible for premium processing filed before June 8 that are pending adjudication.

June 15, 2020 – USCIS plans on resuming premium processing for:

• H-1B petitions requesting premium processing by filing an I-907 concurrently with their I-129 (or request for a petition filed on or after June 8) and are exempt from the cap because:
  • The employer is cap-exempt or because the beneficiary will be employed at a qualifying cap-exempt institution, entity or organization (such as an institution of higher education, a nonprofit research organization or a governmental research organization); or
  • The beneficiary is cap-exempt based on a Conrad/IGA waiver under INA section 214(l).

June 22, 2020 – USCIS plans on resuming premium processing for all other Form I-129 petitions, including:

• All H-1B cap-subject petitions (including those for fiscal year 2021), including change of status from F-1 nonimmigrant status, for both premium processing upgrades and concurrently filed I-907s.
• All other Form I-129 petitions for nonimmigrant classifications eligible for premium processing and requesting premium processing by filing an I-907 concurrently with their I-129.

If you choose to request the premium processing service, USCIS will guarantee a 15-day processing time. If USCIS does not take certain adjudicative actions within the 15‑calendar day processing time, USCIS will refund the premium processing service fee and will continue with the expedited processing of the petition.

If you have any questions regarding the premium processing service, please feel free to contact our firm.

Updated 06/02/2020

2019年3月19日，美国国土安全部终于在今年4月1日开放H1B收件前，公布了今年抽签的H1B加急政策：让一部分人先加急起来。这一部分可以先加急的申请人，是那些雇员在美国申请身份转换的（change of status）的申请人。

不少申请人看到这个消息后，仍然疑惑重重，包括：到底如何确定自己是否可以加急、如果能加急何时能够知道结果、不能加急何时可以知道结果等。宋和孟律师事务所的孟小洁律师，在这里就今年加急的常见问题和特殊情况，跟大家做一个说明。

USCIS announced it will resume premium processing on Tuesday, March 12, 2019 for all H-1B petitions.

If you had an H-1B petition filed on or before December 21, 2018, premium processing will be available for your H-1B petition. USCIS announced it will resume premium processing on Tuesday, February 19, 2019 for all H-1B petitions filed on or before December 21, 2018.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced a final rule amending regulations governing the H-1B visa program. The rule will go into effect on April 1, 2019.

Department of State released the February 2019 Visa Bulletin. You can access the copy of the Visa Bulletin on the Department of State website here.

2018年12月3日，国土安全部（DHS）公布了一份关于H1B抽签制度改革的草案，目前在收集公众评议阶段，截止时间是2019年1月2日。

这份关于H1B的抽签改革方案，国土安全部雄心勃勃地想在2019年的H1B申请季就投入使用。距离政府收集公众评议的截止时间还剩最后两天了，对于还在观望中的各位读者，宋和孟律师事务所在此和大家分享本所律师向政府提交的评议原文供参考（DHS’s Proposed Registration Requirement for H-1B Petitions and Its Potential Adverse Impact on U.S. Employers and Prospective H-1B Employees），希望大家也可以向政府提出自己的意见，尤其是指出在该草案中被忽视的改革对于整体处理时间的影响。

By Xiaojie (Marta) Meng, Alex Kim

On December 3, 2018, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a proposed regulation in the Federal Register that would impose an internet-based registration requirement for cap subject H-1B petitions.

Department of State released the January 2019 Visa Bulletin. You can access the copy of the Visa Bulletin on the Department of State website here.

Department of State released the December 2018 Visa Bulletin. You can access the copy of the Visa Bulletin on the Department of State website here.

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