A US immigration agency could run out of money by the end of summer without a $1.2 billion bailout (Merged)

[Ontarkie 14,226]

~~Related threads merged~~

[cd37 229]

45 minutes ago, JMPM said:

Maybe they change to a system where it's like this:

80% payment on petition.
20% payment due on adjudication. 

It would light a fire to get things processed faster.  

This pay now, and wait forever scheme is horrible. 

Or maybe US immigration requires reforms and go for merit based immigration. 

[Babu Frik 1,162]

49 minutes ago, JMPM said:

Maybe they change to a system where it's like this:

80% payment on petition.
20% payment due on adjudication. 

It would light a fire to get things processed faster.  

This pay now, and wait forever scheme 

The only thing that would light a fire is increasing the fee 80%

It's not like they're being lazy,  there's due diligence and only so many employees with increasing applications every year. 

 

 

[PhillyNatz 39]

2 hours ago, Babu Frik said:

And people are still working,  that  doesn't mean many others aren't.

The article doesn't state no one is filling. 

 

The article states the USCIS effect of the pandemic on the budget. 

What’s the connection between the pandemic and the USCIS budget? People have not stopped filing because of the pandemic. Fees are still being paid. 

Edited May 17, 2020 by PhillyNatz

[geowrian 22,337]

2 hours ago, JMPM said:

Maybe they change to a system where it's like this:

80% payment on petition.
20% payment due on adjudication. 

It would light a fire to get things processed faster.  

This pay now, and wait forever scheme is horrible. 

I'm not sure how that fixes their issue...

1) People that withdraw the application means they receive less money.

2) It does not promote more applications, so it's no more additional income coming in...just getting it slower (only 80% upfront). That effectively decreases their available funds.

3) Getting it adjudicated more quickly means more people + other resources. So it would mean more spending.

22 minutes ago, PhillyNatz said:

People have not stopped filing because of the pandemic.

Their projection indicates they expect fewer applications through September.

I can't say if that's accurate or not as I don't have the data. But if it is true, then people are filing less.

Edited May 17, 2020 by geowrian

[Letspaintcookies 2,310]

48 minutes ago, geowrian said:

Their projection indicates they expect fewer applications through September.

I can't say if that's accurate or not as I don't have the data. But if it is true, then people are filing less.

Quite a few people thought that they're closed and asked here if they can file at the moment. So might be that a lot of people think so.

 

Maybe USCIS needs a social media campaign: yes we're open 😁

[Quarknase 1,072]

The issue has been coming for a while - with the political change in the country, more and more people (especially those with higher education and those from Western countries) simply do not want to live here. Applications have gone down. Fees along with it. Now with covid many seem unclear that agencies are open, and it's also harder to obtain all evidence to file so there might be additional slow down.

Not exactly unwanted by the current administration...

[Sparkle Sparkle 914]

It is my believe that once this lockdown ,POTUS bans lifted and immigration is back on line it will be followed by a significant increase in fees at all levels

[Babu Frik 1,162]

5 hours ago, Quarknase said:

The issue has been coming for a while - with the political change in the country, more and more people (especially those with higher education and those from Western countries) simply do not want to live here. Applications have gone down. Fees along with it. Now with covid many seem unclear that agencies are open, and it's also harder to obtain all evidence to file so there might be additional slow down.

Not exactly unwanted by the current administration...

There was no slow down in general,  numbers increased,  that's why they needed to raise fees in the first place.

[Babu Frik 1,162]

3 hours ago, Sparkle Sparkle said:

It is my believe that once this lockdown ,POTUS bans lifted and immigration is back on line it will be followed by a significant increase in fees at all levels

They already increased fees,  they'll be applying a surcharge to pay back a bailout. 

 

https://www.wsj.com/articles/uscis-to-add-surcharge-to-immigration-applications-11589707800

[carmel34 3,633]

USCIS is like other government agencies, with old, outdated processes and lots of inefficient, entitled employees who should have been fired years ago, bad management practices, and a lack of accountability.  Then you add to that the higher levels of scrutiny to assess public charge issues, new forms added to the process for social media accounts and financial background, all of that takes more employee time, so increased fees are necessary to offset the higher costs.  If applications are down right now because of the virus, they can't just fire employees to reduce costs because of government union agreements.  We can complain all we want to, but understanding the reality of the situation and accepting it is a better way to go in my opinion.  US immigration processes take a long long time and cost a lot of money, more and more people every year want to come here, adding to the cost and wait time.  And if there is a change at the top in November, it could have the effect of adding more applications to the queue and making the situation worse, not better.  Just my two cents.

[JeanneAdil 6,510]

16 hours ago, PhillyNatz said:

Yes that’s true. So what would explain the budget shortfall then

Our fees go to the DHS and we pay for ICE out of the budget  and the DHS has proposed healthy fee increases long before the virus to allow for the needed monies

Our fees along with the immigration inspector user fee is part of ICE

 

https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/ICE FY18 Budget.pdf

 

may be a small drop but we went from 6 million new applications to well over 9 million in about 3 years so dropping back to 7 or 8 million is not that big

 

BTW there are many fees not associated with a drop in applications to come here 

there are naturalization,  AOS,  and all those  other fees

 https://www.uscis.gov/forms/our-fees

[lucardo3 220]

Interesting read:

https://www.vox.com/2020/5/16/21260966/uscis-bailout-coronavirus-immigration-agency

 

US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is asking Congress for a $1.2 billion bailout. The agency claims it will run out of money by the end of the summer without aid due to a decline in immigration caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

 

Unlike other federal agencies, USCIS receives almost no taxpayer dollars, and is dependent on fees associated with filing applications for green cards, visas, work permits, US citizenship, and humanitarian benefits such as asylum. The pandemic has already brought on a “dramatic decrease” in its revenue that is only likely to worsen as applications are estimated to drop by about 61 percent through September, an agency spokesperson said. President Donald Trump’s restrictions on immigration, other countries’ restrictions on travel and the fact that necessary government offices aren’t open to process applications have all contributed to this decline.

 

[geowrian 22,337]

#1 thread on the front page of VJ today:

 

[Pinkrlion 2,722]

14 hours ago, PhillyNatz said:

The article states the USCIS effect of the pandemic on the budget. 

What’s the connection between the pandemic and the USCIS budget? People have not stopped filing because of the pandemic. Fees are still being paid. 

People are submitting fee waivers instead of paying fees stating that due to COVID-19 they have an inability to pay.  USCIS loses approximately millions of dollars a year due to fee waivers.