USCIS Will Temporarily Suspend Premium Processing for All H-1B Petitions

USCIS has announced that starting April 3rd, 2017 premium processing for all H-1B petitions will be temporarily suspended. This suspension may last up to 6 months. While H-1B premium processing is suspended, petitioners will not be able request premium processing for H-1B visa cases.

The temporary suspension applies to all H-1B petitions filed on or after April 3, 2017.  Meaning, this will apply to ALL petitions filed for the FY18 H-1B regular cap and master’s advanced degree cap exemption (the “master’s cap”). The suspension also applies to petitions that may be cap-exempt.

All H-1B petitions filed with a request for premium processing will be rejected.

This temporary suspension of premium processing does not apply to other eligible nonimmigrant classifications filed on Form I-129.

While premium processing is suspended, petitioners may submit a request to expedite an H-1B petition if they meet the criteria on the Expedite Criteria webpage.

The reason for the temporary suspension will allow USCIS to reduce overall H-1B processing times.