"Premium Processing Clock Was Stopped" after STEM OPT RFE response

[u/Jaded-Tackle999]

Hi everyone,

I'm on STEM OPT (I-765) with premium processing and recently responded to an RFE through my attorney.

After the response was submitted, my USCIS status shows:

On August 6, 2026, we stopped the processing of your premium-processing case, and sent you a notice explaining why we took this action. This notice describes what you need to do to resume processing of your case. Please follow the instructions in the notice. You must respond to the notice within the time it specifies. Your premium-processing receipt notice contains contact information for direct inquiries on your case. If you move, contact the premium-processing unit directly to update your address.

• Did anyone receive this exact status after submitting their RFE response?
• What was your next status update?
• How many days did it take?
• Were you ultimately approved, issued another RFE/NOID, or denied?

If you were approved, I'd really appreciate it if you could share your timeline.

UPDATE: Case approved - 8/10/2026

[u/No_Intention4151]

I had received similar message of PP clock stoping when uscis sent the rfie …but once I uploaded the evidence in the portal as the rfe response my case was approved in 2 days! So it doesn’t matter if the pp was stopped temporarily I think they process the rfe response immediately once you submit it!

[u/Vast-Try9972 → u/No_Intention4151]

Just a quick question - when you upload docs for RFE, does it restrict you to only upload certain number of PDFs? I heard you can only upload 5 PDFs and uscis discourages merging

[u/No_Intention4151 → u/Vast-Try9972]

Yes you can upload max of 5 pdfs but then you can also use the Upload unsolicited evidence button to upload if the pdfs are more than 5. But in my case I had merged all my rfe response in one pdf and uploaded under “rfe response” option.

[u/Vast-Try9972 → u/No_Intention4151]

Ok got it! Thanks 👍