USCIS announces flexibility in submitting required signatures and suspension of premium processing
USCIS announces flexibility in submitting required signatures and suspension of premium processing
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The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, USCIS, announced that they will be accepting all benefit forms and documents with reproduced original signatures for submissions that were dated March 21, 2020, and beyond, because of the COVID-19 emergency situation.
This includes Form I-129, Petition for Nonimmigrant Worker. “USCIS already accepts various petitions, applications and other documents bearing an electronically reproduced original signature. This means that a document may be scanned, faxed, photocopied, or similarly reproduced provided that the copy must be of an original document containing an original handwritten signature, unless otherwise specified”, they explain in an article published recently on their website.
Those forms that require a wet signature, also known as “originals”, are being accepted temporarily for the duration of the National Emergency.
Temporary suspension of premium processing service
On March 20, USCIS also announced that immediate and temporary suspension of premium processing service for Form I-129 and I-140 petitions until further notice. This measure was also taken because of the coronavirus outbreak and the stay-at-home order to prevent the spread of the virus.
“Effective today, March 20, 2020, USCIS will not accept any new requests for premium processing. USCIS will process any petition with a previously accepted Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing Service, in accordance with the premium processing service criteria. However, we will not be able to send notices using pre-paid envelopes”, they announced.
Additionally, the $1,440 filing fee that was paid for all petitions that requested premium processing and were not yet accepted will be returned and the I-907 forms will be rejected. The temporary suspension includes petitions filed for the following categories:
I-129: E-1, E-2, H-1B, H-2B, H-3, L-1A, L-1B, LZ, O-1, O-2, P-1, P-1S, P-2, P-2S, P-3, P-3S, Q-1, R-1, TN-1 and TN-2.
I-140: EB-1, EB-2 and EB-3.
“This includes new premium processing requests for all H-1B petitions, including H-1B cap-subject petitions for fiscal year 2021, petitions from previous fiscal years, and all H-1B petitions that are exempt from the cap”, they said.
If you have any questions regarding immigration and how these measures may affect your immigration process or status in San Diego California, contact an immigration attorney today. At Kannan Law, we are pleased to help you out. Head over here and get in touch with our team of professional immigration lawyers.