USCIS Resumes Premium Processing for H-1B Extensions

USCIS announced today that it has reinstated premium processing for H-1B extension petitions – two weeks earlier than anticipated. Beginning today, the agency will accept Form I-907 premium processing requests for any H-1B petition requesting an extension of stay, but any request to premium process an H-1B extension received prior to July 13, 2015 will be rejected.  

The premium processing suspension was put in place on May 19 to allow USCIS to devote resources to the new H-4 employment authorization program, which opened on May 26. The suspension was originally set to end on July 27, but has been lifted early because the agency's H-4 EAD workload was not as onerous as expected.   

What This Means for Employers and Foreign Nationals?

Employers who were unable to submit a premium processing request or whose earlier request was rejected for the underlying H-1B extension petition can now upgrade to premium processing by submitting Form I-907 and its required fee.  New H-1B extension petitions with a request for premium processing will also be accepted as of today.  

Reprinted with permission from Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy LLP