The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is now pushing the potential furlough date for a large portion of its employees to August, instead of next month.

The federal agency is contemplating to begin the temporary lay-off of its more than 13,000 workers on August 3.

According to a report from Fox News, the USCIS earlier deliberated that the furlough will start on July 20.

However, the agency obtained a windfall of revenue, which prompted them to move the temporary layoff date at a later time.

Nevertheless, all this remains to be seen as revenues and cost savings are merely band-aid solutions.

In the long run, without congressional intervention, the USCIS will not be able to avoid this misfortune.

The agency is reportedly asking $1.2 billion to be used as supplemental funding over a two-year period.

According to the USCS, the said fund would ensure they can carry out their mission of "administering the nation's lawful immigration system."

The USCIS is a fee-for-service agency that relies on the revenue it collects through citizenship applications and various visitor petitions.

The USCIS is expecting 61 percent drop in their revenues until end of the year due to the pandemic. 

Between mid-March and April, the USCIS closed its shop and postponed all their services for both field and asylum offices in an effort to subdue the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Sadly, their campaign fund hasn't created any upward traction as the current administration has not provided a proper request for the funding.

Significant Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic

The USCIS is not like most federal agencies as it gets its funds from the fees it charges.

These are mostly from green cards and other immigration services.

With the COVID-19 pandemic ravaging the whole nation, the processing of immigration documents has been put to a halt.

This then resulted on the agency noticing a significant dip in its nonpremium fee receipts starting in mid-March, according to FED Week. 

The USCIS will begin sending notices to affected employees anytime this week. 

In a copy published by WCSI News Talk the notice states that:

"I regret to inform you that offices will begin the process of distributing furlough notices to employees who will be impacted should an administrative furlough be required to start on August 3."

More Immigration News 

Meanwhile, the coronavirus pandemic continues to wreak havoc even for those who seek U.S. citizenship, as reported by Buzz Feed News.

Recently, two immigrants sued the federal government over delayed citizenship ceremonies.

The lawsuit was filed in a federal court in Pennsylvania.

The two immigrants are among the many thousands of would-be U.S. citizens whose much-hoped oath-taking ceremonies were derailed as the USCIS was advised to close down its services.

Both have requested that their naturalization process be pushed through by late September as they want to register and vote for the 2020 presidential election.


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