The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said Monday that it will reinstate premium processing for some H-1B visa petitions, restoring a service employers rely on for a quick answer on whether they can staff a position with a foreign worker.
For-profit companies can once again pay a $1,225 fee to expedite the processing of an H-1B visa within 15 days. This move comes as some H-1B applicants are having a harder time getting approved for the coveted visa because of a surge in scrutiny lawyers say they have never experienced before.
“I’m going to call my clients and gift-wrap this news to them,” Jason Finkelman, an immigration attorney, said of the return of premium processing. “This is a game-changer.”
Premium processing was suspended for all H-1B visa petitions in April, a move that put a significant strain on some employers who may have had to delay projects while waiting to hear if they would have the necessary staff. Without premium processing, it can take several months for an H-1B application to be processed.
H-1B visas allow highly skilled workers to spend three to six years at sponsoring companies in the U.S. They are particularly important to Bay Area technology firms, which use them to fill engineering positions; more than 15 percent of Facebook’s employees are in the U.S. on H-1B visas, and Google, Intel and Apple have submitted thousands of H-1B applications.
There is an annual cap of 85,000 H-1B visas for for-profit companies.
The premium-processing suspension also affected employers who received a “request for evidence” from immigration services on certain H-1B applications.
Over the past few months, officials at U.S. immigration have been singling out applicants who would receive a Level 1 wage, the lowest salary the Department of Labor allows foreigners to be paid in a certain profession.
Immigration lawyers have been scrambling to answer the requests for evidence, seeking to avoid delays in their clients’ petitions.
But now with premium processing, an employer can pay the fee to receive a response within 15 days.
It is normal for immigration officials to suspend expedited processing for a few weeks each year so it can deal with a high volume of applications. This year’s six-month suspension was the most widespread and longest suspension that observers had seen. Premium processing for some employers, such as nonprofits and hospitals, was restored in July.
Trisha Thadani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tthadani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @TrishaThadani
http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Premium-processing-for-H-1B-visas-to-resume-12206893.php
Yep. Throwing the barn door wide open again.
And the house door. Front and back.
And the door to the shed.
Door to the chicken coop.
Door to the outhouse.
Cellar door.
Cupboard doors.
Closet doors.
F–k you Finkelman, you f–king Jew.
And f–k your new Palestinians that your importing.