At a glance
- This evening, the House of Representatives passed a short-term measure that funds the federal government through March 14, 2025. The Senate is debating the bill and is expected to pass it late tonight. It will then go to President Biden, who has said he will sign the measure.
- If the spending legislation does not become law before 12:01am ET on December 21, the federal government will enter a shutdown, though if the bill clears the Senate and is signed by President Biden over the weekend or early next week, the impact of a shutdown – including the effect on immigration functions – would be limited.
The issue
After passage in the U.S. House of Representatives this evening, the Senate has taken up short-term spending legislation that would fund the U.S. government through March 14, 2025 – a few hours before the expiration of the current federal stopgap measure at 12:01am ET on Saturday, December 21.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has said he expects the measure to pass, and the White House has announced that President Biden would sign it. Because the timing of the Senate vote is not yet known precisely, there could be a brief shutdown after midnight tonight. But if the legislation is passed and signed into law overnight or this weekend, government operations – including immigration functions – would not be interrupted.
What to expect if a more than a brief federal shutdown occurs
Though the Senate is expected to pass the spending measure, in the unlikely event that the bill fails a vote in the Senate, the federal government would shut down after midnight while appropriations negotiations continued. If no agreement were reached this weekend, agencies would begin the process of shutting down their operations early next week. The following would be the expected impacts on federal immigration operations based on shutdowns in previous years.
Department of Labor (DOL): DOL immigration functions would be suspended as non-essential functions. No PERM applications, labor condition applications (LCAs), prevailing wage requests (PWRs), or applications for temporary labor certification would be processed. FLAG, DOL's online application system, would be taken offline and would not accept PERM applications or audit responses, LCAs, or prevailing wage requests. The agency would also be unable to accept submissions by mail.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS): As a fee-funded agency, USCIS would continue to process applications and petitions for immigration benefits, but processing delays could occur if adjudication of a case is dependent on support from government functions that are suspended – for example, a clearance from an agency that is affected by the shutdown.
Department of State: The State Department's visa processing would not be suspended as long as filing fees remain available to fund these operations. If a shutdown were lengthy and fee funding were depleted, the agency could suspend visa processing or limit it to emergency cases only.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP): Inspection at U.S. borders and ports of entry is an essential function and would remain in operation. CBP would likely continue to process immigration applications at the border, such as applications for initial TN or blanket L status submitted by Canadian nationals.
Transportation Security Administration (TSA): TSA personnel are essential workers and would continue to perform their functions at airports during a shutdown. However, there could be longer waits and security delays for passengers if there are fewer personnel on duty due to absence.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE): ICE enforcement activities and operations of the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) would continue.
E-Verify and other expiring government programs: Congressional authorization for E-Verify will expire if no legislation is passed. Employers would not be able to initiate E-Verify queries or resolve tentative non-confirmations and would not be expected to meet the usual E-Verify deadlines until the program was reauthorized. All employers would remain subject to Form I-9 obligations and deadlines as usual. Congressional authorization for the Conrad 30 program and the EB-4 non-minister religious worker program would also expire without legislation by December 20.
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