Immigration resumes H-1B accelerated visa application processing

Companies applying for H-1B visas will again be able to pay an additional fee to get a solution through the 15 calendar days for the premium program. American lawyers are not sure that this is good news.

Фото: Depositphotos

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services suspended the processing of H-1B visa fees in April last year to eliminate the general backlog in processing visa applications. In September, this decision was extended, it is expected that this year it will be relevant until February 19, writes Mercury News.

For fiscal year 2019, Immigration Services has decided to resume premium processing for 85 visas, including 20 for advanced degree applicants from U.S. institutions.

The H-1B visa has become a hot topic in the immigration debate and a focus of President Donald Trump's attention, especially due to the use of third-party visas that receive the lion's share of H-1Bs, mostly for undergraduates. The big tech companies in question have been roundly condemned by critics, who say the approach displaces American workers in favor of cheaper foreign labor.

Sam Adair, an immigration lawyer at Graham Adair, said the news was of limited benefit because it only applied to an application made in April - about nine months ago.

“It's not very helpful to employers or individuals because it's been going on for so long,” Adair said. “This news would have been very welcome five months ago.”

Adair estimates that only about 5% of 2019's fiscal bids have not yet been processed and can benefit from the renewal of the premium program. And although the purpose of the suspension was to eliminate the lag by H-1B, according to the lawyer, the processing time only increased and everything became much worse.

William Stock, a member of Klasko Immigration Law Partners, LLP, told Forbes late last year that non-premium applications typically take five to seven months to process. Few companies can wait that long when trying to hire a foreign worker, he said.

Adair said he doesn't expect USCIS to resume premium processing in the near future—H-1B visa applications for 2020 expire in early April.

“I think there's really not much change, they'll reinstate premium processing in fiscal 2020,” he said.

At the end of last year, USCIS increased the premium processing fee by about 15% to 1410 dollars. Payment guarantees a response within 15 days, but does not guarantee that the applicant will be approved for a visa.

USCIS received 190 098 visa applications for H-1B for the 2019 fiscal year.

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