H-1B visa extension services temporarily suspended

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) has announced that as of 26th May  2015, all premium processing for H-1B Extension of Stay petitions will be temporarily suspend until July 27, 2015.

The processing has been suspended to allow USCIS to implement the Employment Authorisation for Certain h-$ Spouses rule in a timely manner and adjudicate applications for employment authorization filed by H-4 non-immigrants under the new regulations.

During this suspension period, petitioners will not be able to file Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing Service, or a Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker, requesting an extension of the stay for an H-1B non-immigrant. However, USCIS will continue to premium process H-1B Extension of Stay petitions filed with Form I-907 premium requests prior to May 26, 2015.

USCIS will refund the premium processing fee if:

– A petitioner filed H-1B petitions prior to May 26, 2015, using the premium processing service, and

– USCIS did not act on the case within the 15-calendar-day period.

Premium processing remains available for all other Form I-129 H-1B petitions, including petitions subject to the H-1B cap that are requesting a change of non-immigrant status or consular notification.