How Would a Government Shutdown Affect Immigration Cases?--Merged With many many others

[Aspen7 10]

I've been trying to find detailed information all morning. It's frustrating.

[NatzG 3]

Well technically USCIS is part of DHS. It's the least affected department.

But to answer your question, it won't.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/wp/2013/09/30/how-would-a-shutdown-impact-homeland-security/

Not according to other sources. Scroll up for other responses.

I've been trying to find detailed information all morning. It's frustrating.

Agreed. This is the last thing we all need, when this whole citizenship process is so fraught with difficulty and emotion. And we don't even have the worst of it—some of the other visas have a much worse time of it.

[UK-USA-K1 128]

Well technically USCIS is part of DHS. It's the least affected department.

But to answer your question, it won't.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/wp/2013/09/30/how-would-a-shutdown-impact-homeland-security/

According to the article linked, DHS will see an overall cut of 12% of their staff during this time. They are keeping 93% of their TSA, which means that even higher than 12% across the rest of DHS. How this won't slow down things I don't quite know. They are supposedly barely able to handle the load with the staff at 100% levels. It won't stop anything for sure, but I would expect wait times to increase some if this is prolonged. Although, honestly, I don't see this lasting more than a few weeks tops, and likely much less

[Steve D. 22]

Most likely it won't. Trust me on that one. Friend of mine went back to work in LA Field office today (we carpool) and he told me no notice anywhere mentioning furlough was sent to them.

Just like the postal office, fee-based services such as USCIS itself would be keep going for sure. Besides DHS and everything related to it are required to keep running to ensure the national security.

Or we can just wait and see.

Not according to other sources. Scroll up for other responses.

Agreed. This is the last thing we all need, when this whole citizenship process is so fraught with difficulty and emotion. And we don't even have the worst of it—some of the other visas have a much worse time of it.

[del-11-03-13-3 11]

Just got this from the consulate in Rio de Janeiro: "Until this moment all visa interviews are confirmed. So far, we have no information that the operations at the U.S. Consulate will be affected by the government shutdown."

I wasn't expecting such a quick response from the consulate (emailed them at midnight) but I may email again Friday just to check again. Hopefully if anything changes in regard to USCIS or the consulates the information gets out fast.

[Adriana Watson 2]

How about if my oath ceremony is at a US Federal Court house? I wonder if they will be working on the day of my oath?

Also, has anybody seen anything about applying for a US passport or updating your info with the Social Security office?? Will this be possible?

Thanks

[girimurthy 5]

Court Houses will work as usual. So does Postal service and SSN.

[risorgimentoe 1]

But they don't have a valid reason to REJECT applications, right? Just delay approvals?

i JUST got my NOA2 yesterday.... i dont want to have to start over because they'll reject them without any reason when you paid for their services!

[Adil & Jeanne 296]

I have learned that since the office handling my case is in a Federal Office Building, all work has stopped. Building closed

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

I have learned that since the office handling my case is in a Federal Office Building, all work has stopped. Building closed

And how did you learn that?

[Ontarkie 14,324]

~~More thread have been merged~~

[del-11-03-13-3 11]

But they don't have a valid reason to REJECT applications, right? Just delay approvals?

i JUST got my NOA2 yesterday.... i dont want to have to start over because they'll reject them without any reason when you paid for their services!

Don't worry, no one will get rejected or have to start over because of the government shutdown, it was just a question of things might getting delayed. Worst case is nothing happens during the shutdown but things will resume.

[John&Lena 17]

My case is at the embassy and is ready since September 19th. On September 25th I received packet 3 and sent it back the same day. So now I am waiting on an interview date/packet 4. I have not heard any news back from the embassy.

Do you guys think I will still get my interview date at all?

[d3adc0d3 186]

Our visa fees and application fees fund the Visa process, since it's mostly or wholly self funded it will continue to run.

This happened in 1996 when we had a gov't shut down, and the gov't scrambled to keep itself in order. Since then, to avoid this issue in the future, there have been many bills which have been passed, contingency plans put in effect and fees have been raised where they could be so it would be nearly wholly self-funded. This is so that it can run as normal without severely impacting the immigration process.

Immigration may slow down, but it will not likely come to a halt as our fees pay for the process itself.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/09/30/absolutely-everything-you-need-to-know-about-how-the-government-shutdown-will-work/

Visas and passports:

The State Department says it will keep most passport agencies and consular operations open so long as it has the funds to do so, although some activities might be interrupted. (For instance, "if a passport agency is located in a government building affected by a lapse in appropriations, the facility may become unsupported.")

During the previous shutdown in 1995-1996, around 20,000 to 30,000 applications from foreigners for visas went unprocessed each day. This time around, the State Department is planning to continue processing visas through the shutdown, since those operations are largely funded by fees collected.

Edited October 1, 2013 by d3adc0d3

[VanessaTony 3,567]

Court Houses will work as usual. So does Postal service and SSN.

Court houses yes. I'm not sure what you mean by "SSN"... perhaps SS Admin? Social security checks will continue to be mailed, but "program offices" will be closed.

The other issue I've found is passport applications won't be processed. I can send it in, but it's not going to be processed at the passport office... so i won't be getting a passport yet. /sigh