House Passage of Emergency Stopgap USCIS Stabilization Act is Followed by Cancellation of USCIS Furloughs
On August 22, 2020, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Emergency Stopgap USCIS Stabilization Act (H.R. 8089). The legislation was introduced by U.S. Representatives Lofgren (D-CA), Nadler (D-NY), Fortenberry (R-NE), Cleaver (D-MO), Buck (R-CO), Welch (D-VT), and Raskin (D-MD). H.R. 8089 aims to temporarily prevent the employee furloughs USCIS announced at the end of June 2020 by immediately increasing the agency’s premium processing revenues.
USCIS has been seeking $1.2 billion in emergency funding from Congress since May, claiming that COVID-19 has reduced the agency’s revenues. The agency was scheduled to furlough approximately 13,000 of its over 19,000 employees on August 30, 2020. In response, the House passed H.R. 8089 with the goal of increasing premium processing revenues by raising the filing fee cost and expanding the premium processing option to more immigration benefit types. However, USCIS announced on August 25th that they are cancelling the August furlough, citing the success of spending cuts, operational changes, and a steady increase in daily incoming revenue and receipts. Notably, reports have indicated for some time that USCIS could indeed pay its employees through the end of fiscal year 2020 (which ends September 30th), having a substantial carryover balance. USCIS now says cost-saving measures it recently undertook will enable the agency to maintain its operations through fiscal year 2020 after all, but they still expect increased processing times and backlogs across the board. The agency indicated Congressional intervention will still ultimately be necessary to sustain the agency through fiscal year 2021.
The path forward for H.R. 8089 is uncertain, not only given the cancellation of the August furloughs, but also given the fact the Senate is currently not in session. In addition, the White House has yet to comment on the bill. Nonetheless, some of the key changes the legislation seeks to enact include:
- For immigration benefits already designated for premium processing, the premium fee would increase from $1,440 to $2,500, except that fees for H-2B and religious worker (R visa) petitions would be set at $1,500.
- Premium processing services would be made available to the following additional immigration benefits, with fees and timeframes set through rulemaking:
- employment-based nonimmigrant petitions not already subject to premium processing;
- certain employment-based green card petitions (EB-1, EB-2, and EB-3) not already subject to premium processing;
- applications to change or extend nonimmigrant status;
- applications for employment authorization; and
- other immigration benefit requests as USCIS deems appropriate.
- USCIS may make biennial adjustments of premium fees to account for inflation.
- USCIS may only suspend premium processing if circumstances prevent the completion of a significant number of premium requests within the required processing time.
- Permits USCIS to set premium fees for new benefit types without rulemaking if such fees are consistent with certain fee and timeframe requirements.
- Requires USCIS to develop a 5-year plan to implement electronic filing procedures for all benefit requests, accept electronic payments, correspond with benefit requestors electronically, and reduce processing timeframes for all immigration and naturalization benefit requests. Requires semi-annual briefings to appropriate congressional committees.
It remains to be seen how the cancellation of the August furloughs will impact whether H.R. 8089 is abandoned or whether Congress will still seek to revamp the premium processing option in an effort to avoid future budgeting emergencies.