The possibility of a federal shutdown looms large as the government must reach a compromise by Friday to avoid it. If a shutdown does occur, how it might affect immigration processing is not quite known. However, the following are a few observations.
Since USCIS processing is paid for through filing fees, it is expected that it will continue to process immigration petitions. However, the Department of Labor is not funded through filing fees and will not be processing any immigration petitions. This means that PERM applications will be stalled, and that H-1B processing may be halted (as the prerequisite labor certification will not be completed by the DOL).
Of course, the immigration detention centers will continue to hold detainees and the Customs & Border Protection agency will continue to inspect individuals entering the United States.
The Department of State, however, will not be operating as normal. It is unlikely that U.S. passport applications will continue to be processed. Additionally,visa petitions to the Department of State will be halted. During the last government shutdown (in 1995-6), “200,000 U.S. passport applications went unprocessed during the shutdowns and 20,000 to 30,000 foreign visa applications were unprocessed.” (AOL News)
Lets hope that a compromise is made quickly. Otherwise, immigration applicants should expect slowed, if any, immigration processing.