Effective July 24, 2017, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) resumed premium processing for certain cap-exempt H-1B petitions. Premium processing will resume for petitions that may be exempt from the cap if the H-1B petitioner is:

• An institution of higher education;
• A nonprofit related to or affiliated with an institution of higher education; or
• A nonprofit research or governmental research organization.

Premium processing will also resume for petitions that may also be exempt if the beneficiary will be employed at a qualifying cap-exempt institution, organization or entity.

On June 26, 2017, USCIS had resumed premium processing for H-1B petitions filed on behalf of physicians under the Conrad 30 waiver program as well as interested government agency waivers.

Though no set date has been specified, USCIS notified the public that it plans to resume premium processing of other H-1B petitions as workloads permit. USCIS will make additional announcements with specific details related as to when it will begin accepting premium processing for those petitions. Until then, premium processing remains temporarily suspended for all other H-1B petitions.