On July 24, 2017, USCIS lifted the ban on premium processing for certain H-1B cap-exempt petitions. Don’t get overly excited though. It is limited to cap-exempt H-1B petitions such as those filed by an institution of higher education, a nonprofit affiliated with an institution of higher education, or a nonprofit research or governmental research organization. USCIS noted, however, it plans to resume premium processing of non-cap exempt petitions as workload permits. We are watching this closely.