Friends. If you're interested in the latest with the U S CIS furlough issue, watch this
video. Yes. I said furlough. And you might be saying, well, it's why I thought the furlough
was off the table. I thought, you know, they post they're not going to do it. Well, friends,
what I'm talking about in this video is cuts that they are talking about making at the
national benefit center, and those cuts are short to impact case processing times. So
stay tuned for those details, guys. Thanks so much for watching this video. I'm always
so delighted to do these videos for you. I'm an immigration lawyer by day, and then I'm
out there.
I'm going to put their Instagram page on the screen so that you can go ahead and check
them out and see some of the cool things that they're involved in. And if you would be interested
in being featured in my upcoming videos, having your Instagram page featured in my upcoming
videos, just take a screenshot of this video posted in your IgE stories. And don't forget
to tag me. You must have me at McMeen immigration law so that I could see it. Or you can just
comment below and I'll scroll through your comments and select the winners for the next
video. Now let's get into it. USC furlough issues are still pretty much an issue. Yes.
They decided that they will not be for a low in 13,400 of their employees because they
had so much pressure from Congress not to furlough their staff. But what they've said
instead is that they're going to be making some operational cuts that will impact case
processing times.
And the first big chunk of cuts that we're now aware of is what they're going to do at
the national benefits center. The NBC. Now, for many of you who are going through the
immigration process, you may already be familiar with the national benefits center located
to change your status or extend your stay here in the U S the [inaudible] travel document
application, and some other applications. But one of the core functions of the national
benefits center is to receive your files, receive your cases I should say, or your packet,
and go through your packet in a semi thoughtful way, right? What they do is they would look
through your packet to first of all, determine whether you're eligible for that benefit such
as adjustment of status or whatever that benefit is that you're seeking.
They will sift through your file. See whether you're eligible for it. If you're clearly
not eligible for it, they can deny you. They will send that denial notice. But for those
of you who are eligible for the benefit, if something is missing, they would go ahead
and send you a request for evidence and RFE, and they will hold onto your case until everything
is put together properly before it is then sent down to the local level at the field
office, nearest you. And it's at that field office, where many of you will go in for an
interview and your case will be adjudicated fully at the local level. So that's what they
do. So their role is actually really critical to the whole process because they have to
do this pre analysis work. And certainly they have to process work permit applications,
and some of the other smaller applications that they do see.
So if any major change happens at the national benefit center, it will impact virtually every
almost everyone's case. Now, what are they talking about doing these days with the staff
there? Many of the staff who work at the national benefit center are contractors. They're working
for another company, and that company has a contract with the U S government to provide
the services that they provide. And so they're talking about cutting 800 contractors, the
jobs they're going to furlough them, and I'm going to pull up this article from the Kansas
reflector. And in this article, it talks about how the agency plans on cutting 800 jobs,
which will trigger backlogs and delays in the immigration process. And it says the 800
people who are being furloughed work for a contractor at the national benefit center
in Lee's summit, Missouri USC uses the process and center to collect information, conduct,
background checks, and prepare a variety of applications for local field offices.
The article also says one of the ways USC is saving money is by reducing the number
of contract employees. It uses in the Kansas city area before the pin DEMEC the agency
used 1300 workers from contract and business, Pacific architects and engineers to help process
applications. Now it will use just 500 and the move is expected to save $9 million through
the end of November. And so they have 1300 workers at the national benefit center. And
now they're looking to reduce that staff by 800. So, and now they will only have 500 people
remain in there to process those applications. And that's a big cut. That's a big cut. So
what we can expect is unfortunately, if they do this, what we can expect is of course,
a slow down in immigration services, friends, this is disappointing news. No one likes to
talk about and hear about cases being slowed down because it's already ridiculously slow,
right?
And it's just not fair to so many of you who have done the right thing you have put in
your paperwork, you've worked with your lawyer with us. So whoever you've worked with, or
you've done it on your own, and you're waiting patiently and you need your work permit. And
the work permit is connected to the work of the national benefit center. So this has far
reaching consequences for many people. Guys, don't forget to subscribe to this channel,
hit the notification bell, so that you'll be the first to get notice of these videos
see you in the next one. Bye bye.
Right.