USCIS announced on Friday that, beginning April 3, 2017, it will temporarily suspend premium processing for all H-1B petitions for up to 6 months. The temporary suspension applies to all H-1B petitions filed on or after April 3, including all petitions filed under the FY2018 H-1B cap, along with cap-exempt petitions and currently pending petitions. It does not apply to eligible petitions filed under other nonimmigrant classifications. H-1B petitioners and beneficiaries are still eligible to request premium processing until April 3; however, the $1225 fee will be refunded if USCIS does not adjudicate the petition with 15 days.
While premium processing is suspended, USCIS has confirmed that petitioners may submit a request to expedite an H-1B petition if they meet the
criteria. Expedite requests are discretionary and are reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
USCIS indicates that the purpose of the temporary suspension is to reduce overall H-1B processing times. The
press release states that processing times have slowed due to a high volume of incoming petitions and a significant surge in premium processing requests. With this suspension, USCIS intends to re-purpose adjudicators to process the long-pending petitions and also to
prioritize adjudication of H-1B extension cases that are nearing 240 days after the previous H-1B expired.
We recognize that this suspension will be extremely problematic for many of our clients who rely on premium processing, both to ensure that new employees can commence employment as needed, and also to allow for travel when necessary. We will be following this issue very closely and will advise our clients regarding any additional information we receive with regard to the treatment of expedite requests and the end of the temporary suspension.
