As Congress was unable to pass a FY 2026 appropriations bill or a temporary stopgap measure to extend federal funding beyond September 30, the federal government is officially shut down as of October 1, 2025. All but “essential” personnel are furloughed. The following is an overview of how the immigration-related agencies are expected to operate during the shutdown.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)
USCIS is a fee-funded agency so business as usual is expected. The exception to this includes programs that receive appropriated funds – E-Verify, the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Regional Center Program, Conrad 30 J-1 doctors, and non-minister religious workers, which are suspended or otherwise impacted.
- In the past, when the government reopened, USCIS accepted late I-129 filings provided the petition was submitted with evidence that the primary reason for failing to timely file an extension of stay or change of status request was the government shutdown.
U.S. Department of Labor (DOL)
The OFLC will cease processing all applications and personnel is not available to respond to e-mail or other inquiries. The FLAG online application system, as well as other DOL systems, are now offline. Labor Condition Application (LCA), prevailing wage, and PERM processing are suspended.
U.S. State Department (DOS)
Visa and passport operations are fee-funded and thus, should operate as long as filing fees remain available to fund consular operations. Consular operations can be impacted if there are insufficient fees to support operations at a particular post. In such a case, posts will generally only handle diplomatic visas and “life or death” emergencies.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)
Inspection and law enforcement personnel are considered “essential.” Ports of entry will be open, and processing of passengers will continue; however, processing of applications filed at the border may be impacted.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
Enforcement activities and operations of the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) continue.
E-Verify
Employers will not be able to initiate E-Verify queries or resolve tentative non-confirmations and will not be expected to meet the usual E-Verify deadlines. However, employers must not take any adverse action against an employee whose employment eligibility verification cannot be confirmed in E-Verify due to a shutdown.