Beginning May 26, all premium processing of H-1B Extension of Stay petitions will be suspended until July 27, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced today.

USCIS will continue to premium process H-1B Extension of Stay petitions filed with requests for premium processing prior to May 26. Between May 26 and July 27, the agency will not accept requests for premium processing for these petitions.

USCIS will refund the premium processing fee if a petitioner filed a premium-processing H-1B Extension of Stay petition prior to May 26 and USCIS has not acted on the case within 15 calendar days.

Premium processing remains available for all other H-1B petitions, including those that are subject to the H-1B cap where petitioners are requesting a change of nonimmigrant status.

BAL Analysis: On May 26, USCIS will begin accepting applications for work authorization for H-4 spouses of H-1B employees under a new regulation. The temporary suspension of premium processing for H-1B extension petitions will allow the agency to process the expected large influx of H-4 work authorization requests in a timely manner.

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