On Friday, March 3, 2017, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it would suspend premium¹ processing for all H-1B petitions filed on or after April 3, 2017. Because April 3 is the first day that cap subject petitions² can be filed for Fiscal Year 2018, this puts a halt on premium processing for all cap subject cases that will be accepted in April, as well as all other H-1B petitions, both change of employer petitions and extensions. According to the notice, the suspension of premium processing may last as long as six months.
Processing times for H-1Bs have grown over the past 2 years, increasing from an average of two months to nearly a year in many instances. USCIS has struggled with an ever-increasing case load, and has tried several strategies to alleviate the long processing delays. Last summer, extension petitions were routed from the California Service Center to the Nebraska Service Center, increasing the offices that process H-1B petitions from two to three. All new cases continue to be processed at either the California or Vermont Service Center, with all cap exempt³ cases filed in California.
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