Cash strapped USCIS to continue full-fledged operations till Sept, but warns of processing delays

MUMBAI: US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the immigration arm of the US government, announced late on Tuesday night (India time), that it will avert an administrative furlough of more than 13,000 employees - comprising nearly 70% of its workforce, that was scheduled to begin on August 30.
USCIS expects to be able to maintain operations through the end of fiscal year 2020 (which ends on September 30). This has been made possible owing to unprecedented spending cuts and a steady increase in daily incoming revenue and receipts, adds the announcement.
Thus, for the time being, foreign nationals (including a significant number of Indians) waiting for various applications to be processed – be it non-immigrant visa applications and extensions (such as for H-1B visas), employment authorisation documents (for which spouses of certain category of H-1B visa holders are in queue), green cards and even those waiting to be declared citizens of US can heave a sigh of relief.
However, Joseph Edlow, Deputy Director for Policy at USCIS warned of backlogs and did not rule out the possibility of layoffs in the near future, “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 fiscal year 2021,” he stated.
AILA President Jennifer Minear, President of the American Immigration Lawyers Association points out, “According to USCIS, it still plans to cut back contracts that will increase backlogs and wait times across the board. This reality underscores the immediate need for the Case Backlog and Transparency Act of 2020, which will hold USCIS accountable for severe case processing delays, an ever-growing immigration backlog, and counterproductive policies that have directly resulted in its budget crisis. Now more than ever, Congress and the public, and especially the customers of USCIS including attorneys and their clients, need visibility into what is causing the backlog, and a common sense plan on how to fix it.”
Recently, the temporary ban on entry of new H-1B visa holders was significantly relaxed.Further, USCIS also announced what can be termed as a second round of lottery for new H-1B applications.
In the backdrop of these developments, hampering in the operations of USCIS would significantly impact Indians. As per the latest available statistics, of the 3.88 lakh H-1B visas (including extensions) issued during the fiscal ended September 30, 2019, nearly 2.78 lakh (or 72% of the total) were allotted to Indians. Further, with US elections around the corner, those in queue for naturalisation (US citizenship) do not want to lose out on the chance to cast their vote.
USCIS relies on fees for carrying out its operations, the pandemic had resulted in it seeking Congress sanctioned aid of $1.2 billion as emergency funding. However, while the US House of Representatives has recently passed an emergency stop-gap bill, it is unclear whether it would be supported by the Senate, which returns in session only in September.