The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services ("USCIS") has announced that the suspension of premium processing for FY2019 H 1B cap cases, announced on March 21, 2018, has been extended until possibly February 2019.
USCIS also announced that effective September 11, 2018, premium processing will be suspended for H 1B cases filed at the Vermont and California Service Centers, except for:
- H-1B petitions filed by cap-exempt petitioners or by petitioners who will be employing beneficiaries at qualifying cap-exempt institutions, entities, or organizations; or
- H-1B petitions filed at the Nebraska Service Center by petitioners requesting either an extension of a beneficiary's H-1B status or requesting consular notification based on the continuation of the beneficiary's previously approved employment without change with the same petitioner
In its announcement, USCIS explained that because of the recent increase in H-1B petitions filed requesting premium processing, USCIS has been unable to process long-pending H-1B petitions. Therefore, the expanded suspension of premium processing was required to allow USCIS personnel to focus on reducing the current backlog of pending H-1B petitions.
USCIS will continue to accept premium processing requests for H-1B cases until September 10, 2018. However, if a case is not adjudicated within the required fifteen calendar day timeframe, USCIS will refund the fee for premium processing and the case will be processed under regular processing.
We will update this post as soon as the suspension is lifted.
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