Proposed USCIS furlough could impact tech firms
Following the national lockdown which was announced in the US about two months ago, application and petition receipts have dropped to half, impacting the ability of the agency to continue to function effectively. The USCIS relies primarily on income from visa processing to keep itself running.
by Priyanka Sangani
PUNE:US visa applicants could be in for a long wait as the agency that administers the visa process is fast running out of funds.
The Covid-19 pandemic and consequent lockdowns in many parts of the United States has halved receipts from visa applications and petitions, impacting the US Citizenship and Immigration Services’ (USCIS) ability to function effectively.
The USCIS relies primarily on income from visa processing to run operations.
More than half of the agency’s 18,700 employees may be furloughed beginning July, the USCIS is believed to have informally told staff, according to a letter sent by Everett Kelley, the national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, to the US Senate and Congress.
“The agency claims that a reduction in fee revenue caused at least in part by the Covid-19 pandemic is the rationale for these threatened furloughs….With a loss of nearly 11,000 employees, work and visitor visa petitions, asylum and citizenship/naturalization applications, green cards, and refugee applications will not be processed,” the letter sent on Wednesday pointed out.
The agency has requested $1.2 billion in aid from the US Congress for a period of two years and proposes adding a 10% surcharge to immigration petitions, which is expected to help compensate for funds already budgeted towards payroll and operational needs.
The USCIS told ET in an emailed response that without US Congressional intervention, it will “need to administratively furlough a portion of our employees on approximately July 20. We continue to work with Congress to provide the necessary funding to avert this unfortunate consequence.”
It did not provide details on the exact number of employees who will be asked to go on leave without pay.
Immigration policy experts said the likely furloughs will extend processing times and create massive backlogs, effectively shutting down the immigration process.
The deadline to file select H-1B visa petitions is June 30, and if the agency is unable to process these on time, companies may not be able to send employees to the US before the October 1 start date of the visa.
Over two-thirds of H-1B visa petitions submitted this year are by Indian nationals.
“These furloughs will have a significant impact on visa applications as it will further delay adjudications. Processing times are already extensive, and this will further add to the problem,” said Nandini Nair, immigration partner at law firm Greenspoon Marder.
The USCIS, which operates under the Department of Homeland Security, also processes work permits and asylum screenings, apart from issuing green cards.
Without additional funding, the USCIS’ capacity to administer the legal immigration process would be profoundly undermined, the letter by Kelley warned.
Over the last two months, the USCIS has been accepting applications online but several people are withholding non-immigrant visa petitions after US President Donald Trump last month signed an Executive Order temporarily halting immigration for certain categories, with a provision to extend this to non-immigrant visas as well.