USCIS Announces Temporary Suspension of Premium Processing for FY 2021 Cap-Subject Petitions

US Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) this week announced the temporary suspension of premium processing for fiscal year (FY) 2021 cap-subject H-1B petitions. When USCIS begins accepting cap-subject petitions on April 1 (for cases selected in the lottery), petitioners filing these FY 2021 cap-subject H-1B petitions will not be able to request premium processing. USCIS will reject any Form I-907 concurrently filed with a cap-subject H-1B Form I-129 until the premium processing service resumes for FY 2021 cap-subject H-1B petitions. 

Similar to previous years, premium processing for cap cases will resume in a two-phased approach:

  1. The first phase will include FY 2021 cap-subject H-1B petitions, including master’s cap cases, requesting a change of status from F-1 nonimmigrant status. USCIS will resume premium processing for these cases no later than May 27, 2020. To be eligible to file a case via premium processing as part of this first group, petitioners must select response “b” for Item 4 in Part 2 of Form I-129, and indicate “F-1” for Item 5, “Current Nonimmigrant Status” in Part 3 of Form I-129;

  2. The second phase includes all other FY 2021 cap-subject petitions. Premium processing will be available for these cases on June 29, 2020, at the earliest.  

USCIS claims that the temporary suspension will help them “reduce overall H-1B processing times,” and the agency will notify the public with a confirmed date for both phases for resuming premium processing for the FY 2021 H-1B cap-subject petitions.

Please note that this suspension only applies to FY 2021 cap cases. At this time, premium processing is available for H-1B petitions that are exempt from the cap, including extension of stay requests, as well as other types of visa petitions.

USCIS Proposes to Dramatically Increase Filing Fees   

US Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) announced earlier this month a proposed rule to adjust the fee schedule by a weighted average increase of twenty-one percent. In making the announcement, USCIS noted that unlike most government agencies, USCIS is fee-funded and claims the current fees if left unchanged would underfund the agency by approximately $1.3 billion per year. “USCIS is required to examine incoming and outgoing expenditures, just like a business, and make adjustments based on that analysis,” Ken Cuccinelli, acting director of USCIS, said in a statement. “This proposed adjustment in fees would ensure more applicants cover the true cost of their applications and minimizes subsidies from an already over-extended system.” 

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USCIS Increasing Premium Processing Fee

US Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) announced this week that beginning December 2, 2019, the agency is increasing the fee to request premium processing for certain employment-based petitions. The premium processing fee will increase to $1,440 (currently set at $1,410) for Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker, and Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker. The agency notes that the premium processing fee was last increased in 2018 and that the increase “reflects the full amount of inflation from the implementation of the premium processing fee in June 2001 through August 2019 based on the Consumer Price Index for all Urban Consumers (CPI-U).” Premium processing is requested using Form I-907 and is an optional service for certain petitioners filing Forms I-129 or I-140. Filing a premium processing request with the additional fee will result in a fifteen-calendar day response time. USCIS.gov has additional information about filing cases via premium processing including filing addresses.

USCIS: Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 H-1B Cap Season To Begin April 1, 2019

Today, USCIS officially announced April 1, 2019 as the start date of FY 2020 H-1B cap season. USCIS also explained changes to the H-1B application process itself, including how premium processing will work, the agency’s new H-1B data hub, and an update to the order in which cap cases are selected.

Premium Processing

Rather than fully suspending the premium processing requests, the agency has decided to offer it in two phases: first to FY 2020 cap-subject H-1B petitions requesting a change of status, and then secondly to all other FY 2020 cap-subject petitions. Premium processing for the first phase will commence on May 20, 2019.

Applicants wishing to use premium processing for their H-1B petitions requesting a change of status may concurrently file Form I-907 with the H-1B petition on April 1. These petitions will not be processed by USCIS until after all data entry on cap cases has been completed, around May 20, 2019. Petitioners may also convert cases filed as a change of status and picked in the H-1B lottery to premium processing after May 20, 2019 if they prefer. The rest of the FY 2020 cap-subject H-1B petitions will likely be able to upgrade to premium processing in June 2019.

H-1B Data Hub

The new H-1B Employer Data Hub — available on April 1st — will allow the public to search for H-1B petitioners by fiscal year, NAICS industry code, company, name, city, state, or zip code. The hub is meant to allow members of the public to calculate approval and denial rates as well as review which employers are using the H-1B program, therefore increasing transparency between the agency and the public.

Selection Process

As previously noted, the Department of Homeland Security has reversed the order in which USCIS will select petitions. The purpose of the reversal is to increase the chances that more advanced degree H-1B petitions will be selected in any lottery.

USCIS Resumes Premium Processing for All H-1B Petitions

US Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that the agency will resume premium processing for all H-1B petitions effective today, Tuesday, March 12. This will be welcome news to many after USICS expanded the premium processing suspension to all H-1B petitions in September 2018. In February 2019, the agency resumed premium processing only for H-1B petitions filed on or before December 21, 2018.

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USCIS Resumes Premium Processing for H-1B Petitions Filed on or before December 21, 2018

US Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced that effective Tuesday, February 19, 2019, the agency will resume premium processing for all H-1B petitions filed on or before December 21, 2018. For applicants who received a transfer notice for their pending H-1B petition and plan to request premium processing, they must submit the premium processing request to the service center now handling the petition and include a copy of the transfer notice with the premium processing request. Additionally, for those who have received a Request for Evidence (RFE) for a pending petition, they should also include the RFE response with the premium processing request. For petitions that have been transferred, if applicants send their premium processing request to the wrong center, USCIS will forward it to the correct location; however, the fifteen day premium processing clock will not start until the premium processing request has been received at the correct center. USCIS has published a table to help applicants determine where to send their premium processing request if USCIS transferred their petition.  

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USCIS Will Resume Premium Processing But Only for Pending Fiscal Year 2019 H-1B Cap Petitions

US Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that the agency will resume premium processing for all pending fiscal year (FY) 2019 H-1B cap petitions, including “master’s cap” advanced degree exemption cases effective Monday, January 28, 2019. USCIS originally suspended premium processing for all cap-subject petitions, including master’s cap exemption cases, in April 2018, and in September 2018 extended the suspension to additional H-1B petitions.

The premium processing service will resume only for pending FY 2019 cap petitions, not new submissions, since sufficient cap cases have been filed to meet the cap numbers. The previously announced temporary suspension remains in effect for all other categories of H-1B petitions to which the suspension applied. If USCIS has issued a Request for Evidence (RFE) for the case, petitioners and/or attorneys should submit the RFE response with the premium processing upgrade request. USCIS says: “We plan to resume premium processing for the remaining categories of H 1B petitions as agency workloads permit.”

USCIS Will Increase Premium Processing Fee Effective October 1, 2018

US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced last week that effective October 1, 2018, the agency is increasing the premium processing fee for Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker, and Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers, from the current amount of $1,225 to $1,410, a nearly fifteen percent increase.  With this fee increase, which is in accordance to the percentage change in inflation since the fee was last increased in 2010 based on the Consumer Price Index for all Urban Consumers, USCIS claims they can “more effectively adjudicate petitions and maintain effective service to petitioners.” 

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USCIS: Extension and Expansion of Premium Processing Suspension for H-1B Petitions to Reduce Delays

US Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) is extending the previously announced temporary suspension of premium processing for cap-subject H-1B petitions and will also expand the temporary suspension to additional H-1B petitions effective September 11, 2018. USCIS says that they expect these suspensions to last until February 19, 2019, and will provide notice before resuming premium processing for these petitions. During this time when H-1B premium processing is suspended, USCIS will reject any Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing Service, filed with an affected Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker. If petitions are submitted with one combined check for the Form I-907 and Form I-129 H-1B, both forms will be rejected.

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Dance Magazine: “Is the US Government Cracking Down on Artists’ Visas?”

Throughout the past year, dancers and US-based theatre companies have been experiencing delays and denials in attempts to obtain approvals for performances in the US. In late March, the Joyce Theater's annual gala performance had to include a last-minute substitution after two Paris Opéra Ballet dancers were unable to obtain visas.  "It was a shock," Linda Shelton, executive director at The Joyce Theater, tells Dance Magazine. "In all 25 of my years here, I think we'd only been turned down once before. That was ages ago and we already had a feeling that dancer wouldn't be approved anyway, because of an issue with their passport. This was just a big, big surprise." Then, less than a month later, visa petitions for Bolshoi Ballet stars Olga Smirnova and Jacopo Tissi to perform at the Youth America Grand Prix gala were denied. Last year, South Korea's Bereishit Dance Company had to cancel a performance because of similar issues. 

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