U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today that it will resume its premium processing service for H-1B extension of stay petitions (this includes H-1B amendments and change of employer petitions requesting an extension of stay).  Any request for premium processing for H-1B extension of stay petitions received by USCIS before July 13, 2015, will be rejected and returned to the petitioner or its representative.  USCIS announced previously that its premium processing service would be suspended until July 27, 2015.  USCIS’ decision to resume premium processing 14 days earlier than initially planned is good news for employers and H-1B workers, particularly those H-1B workers living in states whose driver’s licenses were dependent on them presenting a final H-1B approval notice.

USCIS suspended premium processing temporarily to allow USCIS to adjudicate the anticipated increase in volume of Employment Authorization Applications (EADs) filed by H-4 dependent spouses following the final rule going in effect on May 26, 2015. USCIS has determined that it now has sufficient resources in place to process H-4 dependent spouse EADs and has decided to resume its premium processing service for H-1B extension of stay petitions starting July 13, 2015.

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Photo of Ian Macdonald Ian Macdonald

Ian R. Macdonald Co-Chairs the firm’s Labor & Employment Practice’s International Employment, Immigration & Workforce Strategies group. He focuses his practice on developing, assessing and managing global mobility programs for multinational companies on a range of challenges affecting the movement of people capital

Ian R. Macdonald Co-Chairs the firm’s Labor & Employment Practice’s International Employment, Immigration & Workforce Strategies group. He focuses his practice on developing, assessing and managing global mobility programs for multinational companies on a range of challenges affecting the movement of people capital domestically and internationally, including secondment agreements, benefits transferability, local host country employment concerns and immigration.

Ian and his team work closely with companies to manage and modify, where needed, corporate immigration programs to maximize efficiency, service and regulatory compliance levels. He is experienced with the full range of business immigration sponsorship categories (visas and permanent residence), anti-discrimination rules to reduce or eliminate risk of employment litigation, employer sanction cases, and I-9 and E-Verify compliance. Ian assists clients with establishing risk-based performance standards (RBPS) and Department of Homeland Security protocol, providing risk assessment assistance to corporations subject to Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) and assisting clients with ITAR/Export Control compliance within the immigration context.

Ian has developed strategic relationships abroad that he utilizes when working with clients to ensure compliance with foreign registration requirements. He is experienced with analyzing complex global mobility opportunities on country-specific matters to facilitate the transfer of personnel. Ian is also experienced in counseling employers on immigration strategy as well as immigration consequences of mergers and acquisitions, reduction in workforces, and furloughs.

Prior to joining the firm, Ian worked for the United Nations, various non-governmental think tanks and corporate law firms in London, Washington, D.C., New York and Atlanta.