US resumes premium processing of all H-1B visa categories

Washington, October 4 : The US has resumed premium processing of H-1B work visas in all categories, months after it was suspended temporarily to handle the huge rush of applications for the work visas popular among Indian IT professionals.
Premium processing of H-1B visa was suspended in April to handle huge rush of new petitions. In September, the country opened up some categories of the H-1B visas for the fast processing.
“Premium processing is now available for all types of H-1B petitions,” US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said on Tuesday. The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. The technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year. As mandated by the Congress every year USCIS can issues a maximum of 65,000 H-1B visas and 20,000 to those who have earned higher education in STEM subjects from a US higher educational institution.H-1B visas to several categories, like those in academic and research institutes, is exempted from the Congressional-mandated limit.