USCIS to Delay Premium Processing of FY 2015 H-1B Cap Cases

Premium processing of FY 2015 H-1B cap cases will be postponed until no later than April 28, USCIS has announced. Employers will be able to request premium service for H-1B cap cases between April 1 and April 28, but the agency will not begin working on premium cap cases until April 28 at the latest, meaning that adjudications could take several weeks longer than in previous years.

USCIS is delaying the start of the 15-day premium processing period for H-1B cap cases because it anticipates a very large number of premium requests between April 1 and April 7, the first five business days of the FY 2015 cap filing season. The extra time is intended to allow the agency to run the cap selection lotteries and complete data entry for the premium cases it receives. Receipt notices will not begin to be issued until these preliminary functions are completed. Although the receipt notice may indicate the date USCIS received the premium processing fee, the premium processing period itself will be postponed until April 28 at the latest.

Premium processing services for all other eligible employment-based petitions are expected to remain available as usual.

The announcement is a further indication that the FY 2015 H-1B cap is likely to be met quickly and that USCIS will receive more cap cases than it did last year. In the past, USCIS has postponed the start of premium processing for H-1B cap cases, but typically for just two weeks.

What This Means for Employers

When a petitioning employer requests premium processing, USCIS must approve, deny or request additional evidence in the case within 15 calendar days. The agency’s postponement means that employers requesting premium service for cap may not see agency action on their petitions until as late as Tuesday, May 13, 2014.