I-129 Petitions Pending for 210 Days? You May Submit Status Inquiries Now.

If you submitted an I-129 petition for a nonimmigrant employee (e.g., H-1B, L-1A, O, etc.) and it has been pending for 210 days or more, you may now submit inquiries to USCIS.  One caveat - inquiries can only be made for petitions requesting for extension of status or change of status.  In other words, cap (new) petitions are not covered by this new policy.  Starting April 21, 2016, employers may make this type of inquiries based on the petition "being outside of normal processing times."   Reportedly there has been some system glitches at the National Customer Service Center (NCSC) that prevented the USCIS officers from processing such inquiries.  However, USCIS reported through AILA that the issues have been fixed and inquiries can now be made.