USCIS Suspends Premium Processing for H-1B Extensions

May 21, 2015

USCIS has announced that they will suspend Premium Processing of H-1B extension petitions from May 26, 2015 to July 27, 2015 while they implement the Employment Authorization for Certain H-4 Spouses final rule. Premium Processing will be available before May 26 and after July 27 for extension petitions, and it will continue uninterrupted through the summer for H-1B petitions that are not extensions (e.g. cap or transfer requests). Presumably, this temporary suspension of the Premium Processing Service will allow USCIS to handle the potentially large volume of employment authorization applications from H-4 spouses that can be filed starting May 26, 2015. For more information on which H-4 spouses are eligible for employment authorization, please see our article here: https://immigrationgrp.com/h-4-work-permits-available-may-26-2015 .