What Does the Government Shutdown Mean for Immigrants?

‍

Understanding the Government Shutdown

Is the Government Completely Shut Down?

Most people woke up this morning to learn that the United States government has shutdown do to a failure of Congress to pass a continuing resolution to fund the government.
What does this mean? Certainly, the US government is not “shutdown” completely? It must have some money available to it to provide critical or essential services?

This is actually true. First, there is never a complete government “shutdown.” The term “shutdown” is used to described generally the loss of non-essential government services as a result of a failure of Congress to pass a budget or a continuing budget resolution. A government “shutdown” is more of a political tool than it is an actual shutdown. Although many employees of the government are affected and forced out of work during the “shutdown,” the government actually never shuts down completely.

‍

How the Shutdown Affects Immigration Services

Visa Processing Continues Uninterrupted

For immigrants interested in filing a visa petition, you are in luck because the government entities that process your visa applications never shut down.

In a government “shutdown,” there are two types of government services that continue to operate no matter what:

1. Services deemed critical to national security, which include the Department of State and its consular services.
2. Self-funded services, such as visa processing, which are covered by the fees applicants pay.

If you have an immigration petition for a visa that is in consular processing, your petition will proceed forward despite the government “shutdown.” The US State Department is considered to provide critical services that continue to be funded regardless of Congress’s actions on the continuing budget resolution. Your consular processing will continue for the second reason as well: it is self-funding, meaning that visa processing fees cover the cost of visa processing.

‍

USCIS Operations During the Shutdown

USCIS Remains Fully Operational

This is also why your application with USCIS will continue to be processed during a government “shutdown.” According to a statement by USCIS, “fee-for-service activities performed by USCIS are not affected by a lapse in annual appropriated funding.”

Almost all of the applications filed with USCIS are self-funding, meaning that the fees you pay to USCIS when you file your application are sufficient to cover the budget of USCIS, which is one of the few government organizations that is entirely self-funded by processing fees.

‍

What Should Immigrants Do During the Shutdown?

Proceed with Visa Applications as Usual

So, if you are thinking about filing a visa application/petition with USCIS, you should not hesitate due to the government “shutdown.” Your application will process normally even though the government is “shutdown.” USCIS and the State Department continue doing business as usual during a budget crisis like the current government shutdown.