USCIS suspends Premium Processing of H-1b Petitions

Friday afternoon USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) announced that it will be suspending “premium processing” of H-1B petitions from April 3^rdonward for up to six months.  Premium Processing is the mechanism through which the employer pays an additional $1225, and USCIS will then make a decision on the H-1B petition within 15 calendar days.  Regular processing for H-1B petitions with USCIS is currently taking upwards of eight months.   What we plan to do at this time is work very quickly to prepare and file as many of the relevant upcoming H-1B petitions that we can before the April 3^rd deadline so that we can still avail ourselves of the premium processing service.

Individuals who may be affected by this change include the following:

• Newly hired tenure-track faculty who will begin their positions at KU this fall
• Individuals currently employed at KU whose OPT or OPT STEM Extension (if applicable) will expire sometime within the next six months
• Individuals currently employed at KU who have an H-1B extension or portability case currently pending with USCIS and who will have any international travel within the next six months
• Individuals currently employed at KU who will have an H-1B extension case filed within the next six months and who will have any international travel within the next six months

To be eligible to use premium processing, we ask that hiring departments and international employees provide us all of the necessary documentation that we need to file an H-1B petition no later than March 13^th so that we have time to ensure the case can be prepared in compliance with H-1B regulations and filed in a timely manner.