The US government shutdown would snap funding to the US department of labour, key to the processing of H-1B visas and green cards.
The ongoing US government shutdown is set to disrupt several services with some agencies stopping work, some people put on unpaid leaves and some asked to work without a pay until government opens up. Among the hardest hit will be the processing of H-1B visas and green cards, crucial for thousands of Indian professionals.
According to what some immigration lawyers told HT, the shutdown would snap funding to the US department of labour, key to the processing of H-1B visas and green cards.
Before a company can sponsor an H-1B visa, a Labour Condition Application (LCA) has to be filed with the US Department of Labour. Approval of this application is a important for moving the case forward to immigration authorities.
The Labour Department is also responsible for issuing the PERM certification, which allows individuals to seek an employment-based green card.
Now that funding to the labour department is paused as part of the shutdown, those who didn’t get their LCAs approved before October 1 will be affected. “That means, nobody can get a new H-1B, transfer employers, or change status to H-1B unless they already got the LCA signed before today. H-1Bs will be unavailable until the DOL resumes operations,” says Henry Lindpere, an immigration lawyer from Manifest Law.
Big impact on Indians?
According to a lawmaker, possible stalling of the H-1B visas and green cards stand to hit Indian professionals. Over 71% Indians currently benefit from the H-1B visa allocation system, making them the biggest beneficiaries.
Sophie Alcorn, a Silicon Valley-based immigration lawyer, said that the “biggest immediate impact” for the Indian diaspora would be from the labour department. She believes that applications already under process may continue unaffected, but new applicants will be hit hardest.
“The shutdown creates a mixed bag of consequences, hitting new applications the hardest while largely sparing those already in process. For the Indian diaspora, who represent a huge portion of H-1B and employment-based green card applicants, the biggest immediate impact comes from the department of labour,” Alcorn said.
There is hope for H-1B and green card applicants who have their certifications approved as the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) also handles such applications and can continue their processing given visa fees funds them during the government shutdown.
The latest roadblock to H-1B visa processing comes amid tensions over the Trump administration’s big plans to change the existing system, a move that would largely impact Indians.
Earlier, the US government announced a steep $100,000 fee hike in H-1B visas for new applicants, and later announced an overhaul of the existing lottery system to prioritise higher wage workers.
When will the US government shutdown end?
The US government entered a shutdown starting 12:01 am on October 1 (local time) and there is no end date announced for it yet. The last shutdown in the country was also during US President Donald Trump’s presidency and lasted 35 days.
It began on December 22, 2018 and ended on January 25, 2019, becoming the longest government shutdown in over four decades.