U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that the scheduled furlough of more than 13,000 employees has been cancelled and that it expects to be able to maintain operations through September 30, 2020, the end of the fiscal year.  The averted August 30, 2020 furlough would have impacted nearly 70% of the workforce at USCIS and likely would have slowed U.S. immigration to a crawl.  

Potential furloughs were announced earlier this summer, but according to top officials at the agency, a combination of cost-cutting measures and an unexpected increase in fee revenue led to their delay and eventual cancellation.  However, USCIS indicated that the operational impact of its spending cuts could mean longer wait times, continued backlogs, and a possible furlough sometime in Fiscal Year 2021 if the agency does not receive additional funding from Congress for future operations.  

Foster will continue to monitor developments at USCIS and their effect on case processing and adjudication timeframes and will make additional updates available at our firm’s website at www.fosterglobal.com.