The current lapse in federal funding is impacting agencies with immigration-related functions in distinct ways. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the U.S. Department of State (DOS), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) are all affected. Generally, operations funded by user fees continue, while those relying on annual appropriations must cease, except for those services designated as “essential.”
Below is a detailed breakdown by agency:
USCIS: USCIS is a fee-funded agency and continues to process most petitions, including H-1B, O-1, P-3, and TN nonimmigrant petitions, and EB-1 and EB-2 I-140 Immigrant Petitions.
DOS: Visa and passport operations are fee-funded and should continue. Consular operations may be impacted if there are insufficient fees to support operations at a particular post.
CBP: Inspection and law enforcement personnel are considered “essential.” Ports of entry will remain open, and processing of passengers will continue. However, processing of applications filed at the border (e.g., TN visas) may be impacted.
ICE: The ICE Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) office is unaffected since it is fee-funded. FSIS can continue to process DS-2019 initial and extension requests.
DOL: The Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) is not fee-funded. OFLC would cease processing all applications, including labor condition applications (LCAs for H-1B/E-3 petitions), labor certification applications (PERM), and prevailing wage determinations. OFLC‘s web-based system will be inaccessible. This means FSIS will not be able to file and retrieve LCAs necessary for H-1B and E-3 petitions.
FSIS is closely monitoring this situation and will email you again immediately when federal agency work officially resumes. Please do not hesitate to reach out to us if you have any questions regarding how this situation affects your current or pending matters.