Sequestration Update: What Immigration Agencies Will Have Furloughs?

From ACIP, 04/10/2013

Department of State: The Department of State is not furloughing employees at this time, but has retained the option to furlough employees beginning June 30.

 

Customs and Border Protection:  On March 7, furlough notices were sent to all CBP employees.  This decision faced considerable opposition from Congress.  On April 1, CBP postponed furloughs until further notice.

 

Department of Labor: DOL has issued furlough notices to 4,700 employees.  Employees must take their furlough days between April 15 and September 21.  We are doing outreach with the Office of Foreign Labor Certification to determine the impact furloughs will have on the processing of prevailing wage determinations, PERM and LCAs.

 

Department of Homeland Security: DHS law enforcement personnel will be furloughed for up to 14 days.

 

USCIS: At this time, USCIS has not announced any furloughs.  While USCIS is a fee based agency, we have been informed that the fee account is subject to the sequester and furloughs are possible.

Sequestration Update: How will the immigration agencies be affected?

Details are still coming in about the full impact of the sequester on the immigration agencies.  The agencies are working on implementation plans for mandatory budget cuts and we can assume that normal processes are likely to slow down.  Here’s some more detail about what’s going on at the various agencies.

United States Citizenship and Immigration Services

Since USCIS gets most of its budget from fees, the impact of sequestration might not be felt as immediately as it is at many of the other agencies.  However, there has been speculation about a “spillover effect,” meaning that, as many USCIS processes are dependent upon documents and processes from other agencies like CBP and ICE, the agency will be affected indirectly from the sequester.  

Customs and Border Protection & Transportation Security Administration

DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano say that the sequester is already having a major effect on travel time at airports, with lines increasing to 150% or 200% of their normal size.  This is due to cutbacks on overtime at CBP, and could be exacerbated as furloughs or changes to overtime kick in for TSA. 

Immigration and Customs Enforcement

ICE has received considerable attention in light of the sequester, after 2,000 undocumented immigrants were released from detention.  In recent days, however, Napolitano has said that the release was part of the “normal ebb and flow” of detention, not an immediate result of the sequester.  Still, as Napolitano says the agency does not have the budget to meet the detention expectations of Congress, it appears the sequester will have a significant impact on the agency.

Department of State

Secretary of State John Kerry has said that “[r]eductions in funding would jeopardize the Department’s efforts to provide secure, error-free travel documents to those eligible to receive them, while denying them to those not eligible. Reduced funding would also undermine progress made in ensuring that visa requests are processed in a timely fashion.”

Patrick Ventrell, the agency’s acting deputy spokesperson, expanded upon Kerry’s remarks, saying “[O]ne of the things we are very concerned about is we’ve done – we’ve had a huge influx of hiring of new consulate officers we sent out to hotspots like India, China, Brazil, where you have lots of middle class folks who are trying to come to the U.S. for the first time and visit and spend their money. It’s good for the American economy. And so we are concerned that . . . we could have major setbacks in really the herculean effort we’ve made to reduce wait times.”  He noted the huge impact this could have on the economy, stating “We estimate that for every 65 visitors to the U.S., that creates one American job.”

Department of Labor

It is unknown exactly what budgetary cuts will be made at DOL, but the possibility exists that both PERM and LCA processing will slow down. 

Source: American Council on International Personnel, 03/07/2013

Impact of the Federal Budget Sequester on Immigration Processing

Fragomen.com, 03/01/2013

As has been widely reported in the media, across-the-board funding cuts are set to take effect today at U.S. government agencies unless Congress can reach a compromise on the federal budget. The Departments of Homeland Security, State and Labor are all subject to cuts, but have not yet specified how their immigration processing operations would be affected. If funding reductions take place, employers and foreign nationals could see delays in adjudications, border inspections and visa issuance. 

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is primarily funded by filing fees and may see the fewest effects if sequester takes place, though it is subject to budget cuts to some degree. Customs and Border Protection is expected to be among the hardest hit among DHS operations. Immigration and Customs Enforcement this week released some low-risk foreign nationals from detention facilities, citing looming budget cuts. 

At the State Department, officials have already warned that consular services like visa processing might be delayed. Labor Department functions – including PERM, labor condition application (LCA) and prevailing wage operations – are not funded by fees and could also face delays due to cuts.