On March 3, 2017, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) announced that it will temporarily suspend the premium processing program for all H-1B petitions filed on/after April 3, 2017.

According to US CIS, this temporary suspension of the premium processing program may last up to 6 months. During the temporary suspension of the program, petitioners will not be able to file a Request for Premium Processing Service for H-1B nonimmigrant classification.

The temporary suspension applies to all H-1B petitions filed on or after April 3, 2017. Since FY18 cap-subject H-1B petitions cannot be filed before April 3, 2017, this suspension applies to all petitions filed for the FY18 H-1B regular and master’s advanced degree cap exemption (the “master’s cap”). The suspension also applies to petitions that may be cap-exempt.

USCIS will continue to process H-1B petitions under the premium processing program if the petitioner properly filed the request before April 3, 2017.

The temporary suspension of the premium processing program does not apply to other eligible nonimmigrant classifications. In addition, US CIS will continue to employ standard expedite criteria in extreme emergent cases.

More information is available here.