On March 3, 2017, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that the agency will suspend its Premium Processing service for all H-1B petitions filed on or after April 3, 2017. This suspension will include H-1B “cap subject” petitions filed for the 2018 Fiscal Year, including H-1B petitions filed under the “Master’s Cap” exemption. USCIS has not provided an end date to the suspension, only stating that it may last up to six months.
Under this temporary suspension, USCIS will reject all Premium Processing requests filed on or after April 3, 2017 for all H-1B petitions. This includes H-1B cap subject petitions, H-1B extensions, and H-1B employer transfers. USCIS will continue processing Premium Processing requests filed prior to April 3, 2017 for H-1B petitions. Premium Processing for other visa categories remains unaffected by this announcement.
While USCIS will continue accepting H-1B petitions under regular processing, USCIS will reject H-1B petitions submitted on or after April 3, 2017 with filing fee checks combining the regular petition fee and the Premium Processing fee.
Employers or their employees who have not given serious thought to premium processing on their H-1B extension petitions should consider whether or not to request premium processing before April 3, 2017, as there may not be another chance to make such a request for the immediate future.
For more information on the Premium Processing program, please view our FAQ located here. Please contact your team at Jackson & Hertogs if you have questions regarding this USCIS announcement.
