Employers will once again have the option of fast-tracking employment-based visa petitions and green cards starting in June, nearly three months after those services were suspended.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced Friday that premium processing will resume in a phased approach. Fast-tracking for Form I-140 petitions for lawful permanent residency will be available June 1, and for Form I-129 for nonimmigrant visas, except H-1Bs, on June 8. The agency suspended the service March 20 in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Premium processing allows employers to pay an extra fee of $1,410 for their petitions to be serviced within 15 days. Last year, the average processing time for Form I-129—which is used for H-1B high-skilled guestworkers, intracompany transfer L visas, extraordinary ability O visas, and trade agreement TN visas, among others—was five months.
Those extra fees for faster adjudication may be even more vital to the agency now. USCIS has said it has seen a dramatic decrease in revenue during the coronavirus pandemic, and estimates it will exhaust its funding by the end of the summer. The agency has asked Congress for $1.2 billion in emergency appropriations to stay afloat.
H-1B Petitions
Petitions for H-1B specialty occupation visas will be in a separate phased category, the agency said.
On June 8, premium processing will be available for H-1B petitions filed before that date that are pending adjudication and exempt from the annual 85,000 visa cap.
Petitions exempt from the annual cap include applications to extend H-1B visas. Employers such as higher education institutions, nonprofit research organizations, and governmental research organizations are also exempt from the cap.
Premium processing for cap-exempt H-1B petitions filed after June 8 will resume June 15.
H-1B petitions subject to the annual cap will be eligible for premium processing starting June 22, the agency said.
"processing" - Google News
May 30, 2020 at 12:25AM
https://ift.tt/2B98aSU
Fast-Track Visa Processing Will Resume in June, Agency Says - Bloomberg Law
"processing" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2Wrq3na
https://ift.tt/3dmAmQf
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Fast-Track Visa Processing Will Resume in June, Agency Says - Bloomberg Law"
Post a Comment