The USCIS experiences a downturn in revenue

It is well known that the arrival of the global pandemic affected most sectors of our society. One of the most affected sectors in the US is immigration.

Recently, immigration processes have changed considerably and the current administration of the US has increased restrictions.

For instance, due to the health crisis caused by the Coronavirus, the offices of the US Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) were closed to the public for more than two months.

The USCIS is the entity in charge of receiving, reviewing, and responding to all requests for entry and residence in the US.

Most USCIS revenue comes from the fees that applicants must pay when submitting a request. Thus, due to the suspension of face-to-face services and the borders closure, USCIS revenues have declined considerably in recent months.

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The USCIS reaction

The USCIS recently announced the severity of its downturn in revenue and asked Congress for monetary assistance for a total of $ 1.2 billion to secure employee wages.

On top of that, USCIS announced that application fees may temporarily increase while the entity’s economy stabilizes again.

Congress has yet to respond to the petition, and USCIS announced that it will have to furlough more than 13,000 employees due to lack of financial resources.

The suspension of USCIS employees

The agency belonging to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently stated that “Without the intervention of Congress, USCIS will have to administratively suspend approximately 13,400 employees.”

That represents almost 70% of its workforce.

The USCIS also announced that the strategies to overcome the downturn in revenue will take effect on August 3, 2020. Some of the measures are:

• To furlough a portion of the staff.
• Wage Cuts.
• Reduction of working hours.

With this action plan, the agency in charge of immigration applications in the US hopes to be able to balance its resources until the country comes out of the economic crisis caused by the pandemic.

The repercussions

Since President Trump decided to ban immigrants from entering the country, the pending cases have been considerably delayed.

Now that USCIS must cut a portion of its staff, immigration processes are going to be delayed and accumulated even more, and this could be detrimental for thousands of immigrants who want to come to the US to build a better future for their families.

In addition to that, local companies are going to be affected as well since business immigration is suspended until the end of the year and applications are delayed.

The solution for your immigration case

It is important to understand that despite the crisis we are going through, it is still possible to file a solid immigration case.

The best recommendation is to have the help of experts to prepare the documentation correctly and avoid possible rejection.

If you have any questions about an immigration issue or relating to a case you may have currently in progress, then please don’t hesitate to contact us for a FREE Phone Consultation with one of our expert immigration attorneys.

Simply call Motion Law today at: (202) 918-1799.