Temporary Suspension of H-1B Premium Processing

USCIS has temporarily suspended the premium processing service for all H-1B petitions filed on or after April 3, 2017. USCIS has said that the suspension may last for up to six months. The suspension includes extension and amendment petitions. It will apply to all petitions filed under fiscal year 2018 H-1B regular and master's degree caps. If filed prior to April 3rd, USCIS will continue premium processing. Other types of petitions and applications may continue to use premium processing, where applicable.

What is the purpose?

USCIS is implementing the temporary suspension to help reduce H-1B processing times in general. USCIS stated that by temporarily suspending premium processing, they can focus on completing petitions that have not been processed due to large numbers of petitions with requests for premium processing.

However, petitioners may still request expedited processing under certain circumstances. These include severe financial loss, emergency, humanitarian reason, or USCIS error.