U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it will be temporarily suspending premium processing for H-1B Extension of Stay petitions from May 26, 2015 until July 27, 2015. Petitioners filing for H-1B extension will not be able to file Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing Service, during this suspension period. Petitions requesting premium processing that are filed before May 26, 2015 will still be processed.

This temporary suspension will help accommodate the implementation of the Employment Authorization for Certain H-4 Spouses final rule. Starting May 26, 2015, USCIS will start to begin reviewing employment authorization applications filed by H-4 nonimmigrants.

H-1B Extension of Stay petitions filed between May 26 and July 27 will be processed through the regular processing time. For more information, contact the center at which you have filed your petition.

Premium processing fess will be refunded to applicants if:

• The 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 will still be available for other Form I-129 H-1B petitions, such as those subject to the H-1B cap requesting change of nonimmigrant status or consular notification.