H1B Premium Processing Suspended – With Consequences For Rural Medecine

For $1,225, the USCIS offers premium processing of certain employment-based visa petitions and applications. That fee guarantees 15 calendar day processing (or your money back).

But premium processing is about to be suspended for H1B applications. The suspension (described by USCIS as temporary) will come into effect on April 3, just days after the April 1 start date for the H1B season.

The USCIS says that the suspension is necessary to:

• Process long-pending petitions, which we have currently been unable to process due to the high volume of incoming petitions and the significant surge in premium processing requests over the past few years; and
• Prioritize adjudication of H-1B extension of status cases that are nearing the 240 day mark.

U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) have urged USCIS to allow premium processing to continue for doctors participating in the Conrad 30 program. (You’ll recall that I wrote about this just a short while ago – it’s the program that helps to bring doctors to rural and rural-adjacent America). They write:

Health care facilities rely on premium processing to avoid delays in placing doctors in health care facilities where their services are desperately needed. The suspension of premium processing will delay when these doctors can begin to serve patients in underserved areas across the country. That delay could harm patients and communities who rely on local health care facilities utilizing Conrad 30 doctors to fill critical needs.

Thank you, Senators, for this letter. I hope USCIS listens.

-KitJ