USCIS averts its furlough plan which will increase processing times

Summary: USCIS will not proceed with its furlough plan which was supposed to begin today (August, 30). Instead of furloughing employees, USCIS chose to cut a significant amount of operational costs, which will result in an increase of processing times.

If you have been following this blog since the pandemic, you might have read several blog posts regarding the USCIS (US Citizenship and Immigration Services)’s financial crisis. To make a long story short, to mitigate the financial risk brought by the pandemic, USCIS originally planned to furlough around 70% of its employees early August and pushed the plan to late August upon the receipt of the letter written by two Democrats. Postponed furlough plan supposed to begin today (8/30) but USCIS announced that they are not going to furlough any employee. Instead, USCIS will have “aggressive spending reduction.” From why USCIS averted its furlough plan and what are the impacts to non-immigrant visa holders will be discussed in this blog post. If you would like to know more about previous USCIS decisions on furloughing workers and increased processing fees, click the related blog post below.

USCIS expects to be able to maintain operations through the end of fiscal year 2020. Aggressive spending reduction measures will impact all agency operations, including naturalizations, and will drastically impact agency contracts.

USCIS Averts Furlough of Nearly 70% of Workforce

Related blog post 1: USCIS gov processing time will take longer than ever
Related blog post 2: EAD card production delay due to USCIS printing issues
Related blog post 3: Would delayed USCIS furloughs shorten the EAD processing time 2020?
Related blog post 4: USCIS fee increase; 2020 OPT fee increase by 34%

Contents

• What made USCIS avert its furlough plan?
• What will be the impacts on non-immigrant visa holders (students)?

What made USCIS avert its furlough plan?

When two Democrats wrote a letter to USCIS, it revealed that USCIS actually had enough financial resources to get through the current fiscal year. The letter urged USCIS to not furlough any workers and wait for the financial supports from the Congress. While waiting for the financial assistance by USCIS, USCIS decided to conduct “unprecedented spending cuts,” rather than furloughing 13,400 employees. Additionally, USCIS is seeing a slight increase of incoming fees as they re-opened the offices from July. With these two approaches, USCIS came to a conclusion to avert the original plan to furlough around 70% of workforce.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services today announced that the agency will avert an administrative furlough of more than 13,000 employees, scheduled to begin Aug. 30 as a result of unprecedented spending cuts and a steady increase in daily incoming revenue and receipts.

USCIS Averts Furlough of Nearly 70% of Workforce

Impacts of longer USCIS processing times on non-immigrant visa holders

Although USCIS did not specifically list which spending expenses will be cut, anticipated operational impacts are summarized below. For international students, longer EAD case processing times are expected. This being said, don’t be frustrated. Given that Congress members promised that they are committed to assisting USCIS, there’s hope that USCIS might get assistance funds from the Congress in the next couple of months.

• Increased wait times for pending case inquiries with the USCIS Contact Center
• longer case processing times
• Increased adjudication time for aliens adjusting status or naturalizing (*Naturalization ceremonies will continue)

Therefore, let’s wait and see how things change. Still, applying for OPT/ STEM OPT as early as possible will be the best practice, if you are planning to do so this winter. Blog posts about How to apply for OPT 101 will be coming out next week, so make sure you follow us (Instagram: @sevissavvy, Facebook: @sevissavvy.kr) and subscribe to our newsletter.

“However, averting this furlough comes at a severe operational cost that will increase backlogs and wait times across the board, with no guarantee we can avoid future furloughs. A return to normal operating procedures requires congressional intervention to sustain the agency through the fiscal year 2021,” said USCIS Deputy Director for Policy Joseph Edlow.

USCIS Averts Furlough of Nearly 70% of Workforce

In this blog, USCIS updates on the furlough plan have been discussed. USCIS decided not to furlough its workforce but there will be spending cuts which will take longer case processing times. As EAD USCIS processing times will take longer, international students are encouraged to apply for OPT/ STEM OPT as early as possible to give enough time to receive EAD (Employment Authorization Document) card. However, given the fact that USCIS has changed their plans multiple times since June, I can see that there will be more updates and changes in the future. Thus, I hope students don’t feel discouraged or frustrated by single news but prepare what they can do such as applying for OPT as early as possible.