U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently announced that it will not furlough employees as had been previously scheduled to begin on August 30, 2020. USCIS had previously pushed back the anticipated furlough in August and now has cancelled it altogether, with the expectation of being able to maintain operations through the end of fiscal year 2020. The furlough was to include more than 13, 000 employees, or approximately 70% of the USCIS workforce. The cancellation of the furlough was based on USCIS spending cuts and an increase in revenue and receipts. USCIS indicated that “Anticipated operational impacts include increased wait times for pending case inquiries with the USCIS Contact Center, longer case processing times, and increased adjudication time for aliens adjusting status or naturalizing.” For immigration practitioners, employers and beneficiaries unfortunately this means that the unprecedented delays at USCIS will only continue, but for now a crisis was averted. Should you have any questions or concerns about immigration case processing, please contact one of the immigration attorneys at Fox Rothschild.
