Government Shutdown and the American Immigration Process

Government Shutdown and the American Immigration Process

This posting is designed to be a general overview of information pertaining to American Immigration and the effect of a possible government shutdown on the United States visa process.In recent weeks, the issue of a United States government shutdown has been hotly debated. The substance of the issue has been repeatedly discussed as well as the time frame of when such a shutdown could possibly occur. As of the time of this writing, the various political forces in the American Congress have agreed to temporary extensions of the American government's funding as a sort of "stop-gap" measure, but such extensions may not continue indefinitely. For a number of prospective immigrants and US Citizens who have loved ones awaiting a visa overseas, the prospect of an American government shutdown raises the possibility of delaying the visa process. The United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (commonly referred to by the acronym USCIS) is the agency that usually begins the visa process as this agency is responsible for adjudicating immigration petitions. Fortunately, for those wishing to receive immigration benefits it would appear that a government shutdown is unlikely to adversely impact USCIS processing as USCIS is primarily funded through the application and petition fees received in connection with requests for immigration benefits. However, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) is not the exclusive American agency with jurisdiction over the whole of the United States visa process. The American Department of State is primarily responsible for the "back end" of the U.S. Immigration process as most immigrant visa and K-1 visa applications for loved ones abroad must be adjudicated by a United States Embassy or United States Consulate with appropriate Consular jurisdiction. Before a visa application can be adjudicated at a US Mission abroad it must first process through the United States National Visa Center. The reason that the NVC and the US Missions abroad are being brought up in this article is due to the fact that should a government shutdown occur processing of visa applications at NVC and US Missions abroad could effectively cease until such time as the controversy is resolved and the US government "reopens". Therefore, those with pending visa matters before the United States immigration apparatus should be prepared for possible delays in the visa process should the United States government shutdown. regardless of the fact that USCIS may still be operational during a government shutdown, those expecting to consular process their visa application abroad ought to be aware of the fact that a government shutdown may cause significant processing delays.

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