4 ms·

Summary of why it's temporarily suspended: "This temporary suspension will help us to reduce overall H-1B processing times. By temporarily suspending premium p

Summary of why it's temporarily suspended: "This temporary suspension will help us to reduce overall H-1B processing times. By temporarily suspending premium processing, we will be able 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. "

klipt 10y ago
> 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 You'd think the $1,225 paid for every premium processing request would allow them to hire more people to tackle the backlog, but I guess not, maybe they just reroute that money elsewhere :P
- itchyjunk 10y ago
  USCIS is under department of homeland security now. Possibly where it is rerouted too. The cost of all applications have gone up by a fairly large amount imho since the DOJ days. I looked into this when I was trying to figure out the costs for my own application some time ago. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Citizenship_and_Immigration_Services https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Citizenship_and_...
- ojbyrne 10y ago
  As I understand it, USCIS (though not ICE or CBP) is subject to the current federal hiring freeze.
- ams6110 10y ago
  I'd think the $1,225 paid would be allowing them to hire more people to expedite the premium processing. You can't offer premium processing without additional processing capacity. For a while you might get away with just moving premium requests to the front of the queue, but that breaks down after a certain point and in order to meet whatever timeline they are promising, they will need to have the capacity to handle all the premium applications within that time.
- djKianoosh 10y ago
  if this is what the people want, tell congress to fund them more and Defense/Military less. they control how much money is appropriated to DHS
  - UnoriginalGuy 10y ago
    USCIS is self-funded. They exist via the fees paid. To quote them[0]: > USCIS is funded primarily by immigration and naturalization benefit fees charged to applicants and petitioners. Fees collected from individuals or organizations filing immigration benefit requests are deposited into the Immigration Examinations Fee Account (IEFA). Congress created the IEFA in 1988, establishing the authority to recover the full cost of immigration benefit processing. This account represents approximately 95 percent of USCIS’ fiscal year (FY) 2016 total budget authority. The remaining budget authority comes from two other mandatory fee accounts and appropriated funding for the E-Verify program. [0] https://www.uscis.gov/aboutus https://www.uscis.gov/aboutus
    - djKianoosh 10y ago
      good point. still, the uscis budget is not even a drop in the bucket: https://www.hsdl.org/?view&did=795314 https://www.hsdl.org/?view&did=795314
- woofyman 10y ago
  >hire more people There's a federal hiring freeze.
  - klipt 10y ago
    The premium processing service has been around for years, most of the time there isn't a hiring freeze. I guess if they were planning to use the premium processing fees to hire a bunch of extra people for the April application deadline the hiring freeze will stymie that, which just shows how stupid a general hiring freeze is.
    - Eyas 10y ago
      Growth in volume/demand. They probably did hire more people over time, but needed to hire more since January to meet current deadlines. Since the freeze has been in effect for a few months now, that probably had a detrimental effect on their ability to adapt to any increased volume.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]

klipt 10y ago

> 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 You'd think the $1,225 paid for every premium processing request would allow them to hire more people to tackle the backlog, but I guess not, maybe they just reroute that money elsewhere :P

itchyjunk 10y ago
USCIS is under department of homeland security now. Possibly where it is rerouted too. The cost of all applications have gone up by a fairly large amount imho since the DOJ days. I looked into this when I was trying to figure out the costs for my own application some time ago. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Citizenship_and_Immigration_Services https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Citizenship_and_...
ojbyrne 10y ago
As I understand it, USCIS (though not ICE or CBP) is subject to the current federal hiring freeze.
ams6110 10y ago
I'd think the $1,225 paid would be allowing them to hire more people to expedite the premium processing. You can't offer premium processing without additional processing capacity. For a while you might get away with just moving premium requests to the front of the queue, but that breaks down after a certain point and in order to meet whatever timeline they are promising, they will need to have the capacity to handle all the premium applications within that time.
djKianoosh 10y ago
if this is what the people want, tell congress to fund them more and Defense/Military less. they control how much money is appropriated to DHS
- UnoriginalGuy 10y ago
  USCIS is self-funded. They exist via the fees paid. To quote them[0]: > USCIS is funded primarily by immigration and naturalization benefit fees charged to applicants and petitioners. Fees collected from individuals or organizations filing immigration benefit requests are deposited into the Immigration Examinations Fee Account (IEFA). Congress created the IEFA in 1988, establishing the authority to recover the full cost of immigration benefit processing. This account represents approximately 95 percent of USCIS’ fiscal year (FY) 2016 total budget authority. The remaining budget authority comes from two other mandatory fee accounts and appropriated funding for the E-Verify program. [0] https://www.uscis.gov/aboutus https://www.uscis.gov/aboutus
  - djKianoosh 10y ago
    good point. still, the uscis budget is not even a drop in the bucket: https://www.hsdl.org/?view&did=795314 https://www.hsdl.org/?view&did=795314
woofyman 10y ago
>hire more people There's a federal hiring freeze.
- klipt 10y ago
  The premium processing service has been around for years, most of the time there isn't a hiring freeze. I guess if they were planning to use the premium processing fees to hire a bunch of extra people for the April application deadline the hiring freeze will stymie that, which just shows how stupid a general hiring freeze is.
  - Eyas 10y ago
    Growth in volume/demand. They probably did hire more people over time, but needed to hire more since January to meet current deadlines. Since the freeze has been in effect for a few months now, that probably had a detrimental effect on their ability to adapt to any increased volume.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]