Washington, DC. Due to a failure to pass a relevant funding bill (government budget), a shutdown of the United States federal government began at 12 am EST on Saturday, January 20, 2018. Federal government’s operations will vary by agency, and “non-essential operations” of impacted agencies will be closed because of the shutdown. Following are impacts of government shutdown on immigration matters:
- U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS): USCIS is funded by fees collected from applications therefore USCIS operations will not be impacted however the E-verify will be unavailable because of shutdown (but employers still must complete I-9 within three days from hire despite shutdown). Also the EB-5 Regional Center Pilot Program (other EB-5 are not affected) will be suspended during the shutdown.
- U.S. Department of Labor (DoL): DoL operations will be impacted, therefore, Office of Foreign Labor Certification will not process any applications. LCAs, PWDs, and PERM applications will be impacted, and websites of iCERT and PERM will not be working.
- Department of State: U.S. Consulate operations are generally funded by visa fees therefore visa processing will not be impacted. Similarly, services for U.S. passport will not impacted by government shutdown.
- U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP): Ports of entry will be open and CBP will continue to inspect and enforce customs and visa regulations even during shutdown.
- Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE): ICE will continue its immigration enforcement and removal operations.
We will be closely monitoring the legislative developments and updates from U.S. Senate and House of Representatives about impending shutdown.
For learning more about this topic do contact our attorneys at (+1) 202 496 1295 or (+1) 888 820 4430 (toll free), or email us at contact@adhikarilaw.com