Layoffs Canceled: House of Representatives Found a Way to Get USCIS Out of Budget Crisis
The US House of Representatives has approved a bill to provide emergency funding to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), which would otherwise have to lay off about 70% of its employees due to lack of funds. Writes about it The Economic Times.
USCIS, which is dependent on visa fee income, should have lay off more than 13 employees at the end of Augustas she was running out of funds.
USCIS has requested $ 1,2 billion from the government for emergency funding. The bill, approved on Saturday, August 22, does not provide for the allocation of additional funds to the department, but lawmakers have found another way to bring the Service out of the crisis.
The bill proposes to increase processing fees for premium visa applications to $ 2 from $ 500 and extend this innovation to different categories of visas.
Rep. Peter Welch, a Democrat from Washington state, joined with fellow Representatives to introduce a bill aimed at preventing layoffs.
More than 1000 employees at the Vermont service center in St Albans and Essex are due to be laid off at the end of the month as part of a nationwide layoff.
On the subject: US immigration system is on the verge of collapse due to financial problems USCIS
In a statement Friday, August 21, lawmakers warned that “if layoffs occur, they will have a devastating effect on the agency's ability to provide immigration and naturalization services to many immigrants for many months, if not years, in the future,” writes Samessenger.
“The planned USCIS layoffs are an unnecessary disaster for Vermont workers, their families and the local economy that relies on these jobs. This bill is an important temporary measure to protect the more than 1100 Vermonters and more than 13000 USCIS employees nationwide who currently face the risk of layoffs. We will continue to work to change and reform USCIS to ensure fair compliance with our immigration policies. But at this critical and challenging time, we must first prevent layoffs that would be a devastating blow to USCIS,” Welch said.
“This legislation is not a complete solution to USCIS' current financial problems. But it would give the department quick access to additional revenue, eliminating the need for immediate layoffs. At a time of record unemployment and increasing backlogs in immigrant visa processing, we must do everything we can to ensure USCIS can maintain its current workforce and continue to operate at full capacity,” said Immigration and Citizenship Subcommittee Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren, a California Democrat.
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