U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on July 24 plans to delay scheduled USCIS employee furloughs until August 31 to allow Congress more time to address the agency’s $1.2 billion shortfall this year. Lawmakers say they’re still waiting on a detailed budget breakdown from the White House on the agency bailout.
DHS plans to furlough up to 75% of staff – 13,000 employees – due to a decrease in user fees caused by COVID. However, Congress’ Homeland Security panel announced on July 21 that USCIS is now projecting a surplus in fiscal 2020 and should take immediate action to prevent “unnecessary furloughs.”
Both USCIS employees and immigration advocates say COVID is not the only reason for the USCIS financial problems. The anti-immigration Trump administration has initiated programs that increase USCIS costs while limiting immigration, including:
• increased staffing and red-tape in order to limit legal immigration
• placed restrictions on visas due to the novel coronavirus pandemic,
• attempted to block immigrants who would qualify for public assistance
United States immigration laws can be extraordinarily complicated. A small mistake on a naturalization application can lead to years of delays to citizenship and even outright denials and deportation. Your decision to hire an experienced immigration lawyer can save you time, money and stress – and make the difference between your naturalization application being denied or approved. Contact Godoy Law Office, our skilled immigration lawyers in Chicago, Lombard and Oak Brook can answer any questions about immigration and guide you through every step of the process.
