USCIS Averts Furlough of 70% of Workers

August 25, 2020

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced this morning that it will avert an administrative furlough of more than 13,000 employees, which had been scheduled to begin on August 30. USCIS indicated that it expects to be able to maintain operations through the end of fiscal year 2020 by enacting aggressive spending reduction measures. The agency warned that calling off the furlough “comes at a severe operational cost that will increase backlogs and wait times across the board, with no guarantee we can avoid future furloughs.” The spending cuts will include the descoping of federal contracts that assist USCIS adjudicators in processing cases. Further, USCIS said that a return to normal operating procedures would require congressional intervention to sustain the agency through fiscal year 2021. More information can be found at the USCIS’ announcement here.