In this video, we'll talk about the new bill passed by the House yesterday
to provide the special provision in the USCIS funding bill to expand premium processing
to many more applications. So, what are you waiting for? I'll see you on the other side.
In this video, we'll talk about the new bill passed by the House yesterday to provide emergency
funding to the USCIS, and also an interesting provision in the funding bill to expand the
premium processing to many more applications. And also, we can talk about what to do
if furloughs will actually happen. I'll give you a few tips. Before we dive into the video, if you're
here for the first time, make sure you subscribe to this channel. Click that bell to be notified.
And also give it a big like so YouTube will be able to show this video to more people
just like you. My name is Jacob Sapochnik. And I'm an immigration attorney based in San Diego,
California. And I am recording videos every single week for you, guys, based on your suggestions and
based on the news that is happening every single week. So, let's dive right in. The House passed
an emergency funding bill yesterday, specifically to address the issue of the budget crisis at
USCIS. In this particular bill, there's going to be emergency funding provided to USCIS. Now,
remember, this is just a bill that was passed by the House, we still need to get the Senate’s
version. We're not sure exactly what the Senate is going to do. And the Senate is not going to
resume until September. So, we never know until then. But it's already a good start. And again,
what is interesting is that as you remember… and remember, as I explained in previous videos,
USCIS specifically said that they have a serious budget crisis and they need funding
to be able to finish the fiscal year as well as the calendar year. And if not, they're going to
be forced to furlough more than a third of their entire workforce. The concerning part about this
furloughs, if that takes place, the likelihood of immigration shutting down completely is
actually going to happen because there's no way that they’re going to operate this agency.
With less than 20% of staff on-site, the USCIS plans to furlough more than 70% of its staff.
And if this happens, most likely, the entire immigration system is going to come to a complete
stop. And of course, this is devastating for everybody. So, they tried to prevent that.
And as you know, lawmakers in both parties urged USCIS to avoid the furloughs because it's going
to have a devastating impact on this entire immigration system. Lawmakers on both parties
urged USCIS to avoid furloughs in light of their improving budget. But USCIS has not
provided any clear indication as to exactly what they're going to be doing. And if you remember,
on August 18, Senator Patrick Leahy sent a letter to the USCIS urging them to avoid the furloughs
because he pointed out that they actually had a budget surplus, and there's no reason for them
to actually go ahead and do those furloughs. He specifically said the following. Patrick
Leahy said the following. “There's no reason USCIS should furlough 30,000 dedicated public servants.
August 30, in the midst of a pandemic, would record high unemployment, especially not when
it has sufficient money to avoid furloughs for this fiscal year.” So, obviously,
the house bill is a great step forward but we still need to get the Senate to approve this
and get their version of this bill. And let's see what happens. But what is interesting is
the provision in the bill that expands premium processing. Let’s look at that for a second.
So, the new USCIS funding bill will prevent the furloughs by opening our premium processing
to application types not included now like National Interest Waiver, EB1 executives,
and all EAD cards. It's also going to increase the premium processing fee from 1,440 to 2500,
and a list here of the different applications that may qualify for premium processing. It's
interesting, they're going to be expanding premium processing to be able to get more
money and they're going to be able to get more funds by expanding premium processing. So,
we'll see if that actually is going to happen. So, as you can see, the decision to decide whether
furloughs are going to take place is entirely with USCIS. They do have the power to do so.
They claim that while they may have a budget to end the fiscal year, they're probably not going
to have enough money to end the calendar year. And therefore, they still need money. As you can see,
while the house bill is a positive sign, we still need, again, like I mentioned,
we need the Senate to agree on that as well and get their own version of the bill. So,
let's take a look at what if furloughs are actually going to take place? What can you do? So,
there are a few things that we can do if furloughs are going to take place. The first thing is that
if you have an application that is eligible for premium processing,
you should go ahead and upgrade to premium processing. Another option is if your request
qualifies for an expedited option, try to expedite. So, if you have an emergency,
if you have a situation where you may lose your job or whatever that is, a financial crisis,
look at the criteria to expedite a case and request, and use that if you can to move your case
forward. Another option is to make sure you use Congress assistance. Every congressional district
has a USCIS liaison person. You should be able to utilize them to help push your case. if your
case is stuck, if your case is delayed, especially furloughs are going to happen. Definitely utilize
those resources. Use electronic filings when possible. There are so many applications that
offer you to file electronically. If we have furloughs, you know that everything is going to be
delayed. But if you file electronically, there are more chances that your case will go… you'll get
your receipt faster. And hopefully, your case will also move faster. So in any case, whenever you can
utilize electronic filing, use it. And finally, if your case is really stuck, and nothing happens,
more and more people are going to use litigation, sue USCIS mandamus lawsuits to force them to
act. I anticipate more and more people are going to use mandamus to force immigration
to act. To summarize, like I said, today, a House bill passed to provide emergency funding to USCIS.
This is definitely because of the pressure that was mounting. People are worried about furloughs.
USCIS, as you remember, sometime in May, they mentioned that they have a serious budget
crisis, and they need at least 1.2 billion from Congress to be able to continue to stay afloat. At
the same time, a couple of months afterwards, it was discovered that they actually have a surplus.
And now, we can see that they do have the power, it's in their control to make a decision
if they absolutely necessarily to furlough. And so, we'll see what happens. But there's
definitely a lot of movement to pressure USCIS not to furlough. If they will go into furlough,
if they will furlough these employees, it's definitely going to… I believe it's going to stop
this entire immigration system. It's going to create massive backlogs that it's going to take
years and years to overcome. So, hopefully, it's not going to happen. But if they will proceed
with furloughs, there are some things you can do, like I mentioned. Once again, this is just
a quick update about the house bill that passed yesterday to provide emergency funding to USCIS,
and also to expand premium processing. One of the suggestions in the bill was to expand premium
processing to more applications, including EADs. So, we'll see, [inaudible] in the efforts to bring
more money to the USCIS. So once again, if you're here for the first time, make sure you subscribe
to this channel so you can get updates like this every single week. And also, give us the big like
so YouTube can show this video to more people just like you. Also, we have a private Facebook group
where we share all our updates in that group. So, make sure you join the group. The link is in the
description of this video. So once again, thanks for watching, and I'll see you in our next video.