U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced March 17, 2015, that it would start adjudicating H-2B petitions again via regular processing. USCIS continues to suspend premium processing on H-2B petitions.

As reported in a blog post March 12, 2015, USCIS and the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) stopped accepting and/or processing applications for H-2B prevailing wages and temporary labor certifications because of a federal court ruling that vacated the DOL’s 2008 H-2B regulations. The DOL filed an unopposed motion to stay the March 4, 2015, federal court order until April 15, 2015. DOL’s motion indicated that USCIS would resume adjudicating H-2B petitions based on temporary labor certifications issued by the DOL.

DOL announced on March 13, 2015, that it and the Department of Homeland Security intend to issue a joint interim final rule by April 30, 2015, that is consistent with the federal court’s decision.