The USCIS is at a crossroads

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is the federal entity in charge of responding to the country’s immigration requests.

This branch of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is one of the few federal agencies that relies almost entirely on outside revenue. With this, we mean that the USCIS financial balance depends on fees that applicants must pay when submitting an immigration request.

Normally, this agency has a fairly stable economy and can process applications in a moderate amount of time, as well as pay its employees’ salaries on time. However, the sudden arrival of the global Coronavirus pandemic almost completely destabilized the USCIS economic system. This happened primarily because the local immigration sector was on hold for more than two months.

As a result, the USCIS was going to furlough nearly 70% of its employees due to the devastating downturn in revenue it experienced during the health crisis. After more than three months, the USCIS is no longer furloughing its employees, but announced that is cutting budgets and increasing fees for most immigration applications.

If you need to know more about the new immigration application fees, please click here.

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Budget cuts could represent substantial delays

Immigration processes were delayed even before the arrival of the COVID-19 in the North American territory, mainly due to:

• Policies, restrictions and requirements of the Trump administration when it comes to the immigration sector.
• Considerable increase in immigration applications in recent years.
• Changes implemented in some immigration processes that lengthen waiting times for applicants.

Thus, even before the global pandemic, the USCIS already had backlogs of approximately 1 million immigration cases.

Now, even though the USCIS is not furloughing its employees, budget cuts could increase delays in multiple immigration processes. The processes most affected by the current delays are:

• Applications for political asylum.
• Applications for adjustment of immigration status (to obtain Legal Permanent Residence or Green Card).

However, budget cuts could delay other processes such as family or business immigration.

Contact Motion Law Immigration and follow the advice of experts.

Do you have an immigration case but don’t know how to proceed?

The country is gradually emerging from the economic crisis that the global Coronavirus pandemic brought and it is only a matter of time until immigration processes are up to date again.

However, current delays can be a positive aspect for your application, primarily because you can use the time wisely to organize your immigration case, submit a solid application, and avoid possible rejection by the USCIS.

The best alternative is undoubtedly to seek reliable help from experienced immigration attorneys before submitting your application. We recommend this because the health crisis increased requirements in multiple processes. Therefore, it is better to have the constant accompaniment of experts, who are up to date with current immigration policies.

Motion Law’s team will guide you through your immigration journey in the US

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.