In anticipation of a possible 2023 government shutdown this weekend, many
employers are wondering how a shuttering of U.S. government
agencies for budgetary reasons could impact or delay their U.S.
immigration processing, exclusively handled by federal
agencies.
The following is an overview of current guidance issued by
immigration-related agencies, along with notes on how these
agencies have treated prior shutdown periods.
Department of Labor (DOL)
The DOL's Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) has
indicated that, if the federal government shuts down, OFLC would
need to disable the Foreign Labor Application Gateway (FLAG)
system, which is the primary case management system used to process
labor certifications and wage determinations to support new
visas.1 This means that the DOL would immediately stop
processing Labor Condition Applications (LCAs), Prevailing Wage
Determinations, and PERM Labor Certifications. Critically, this
could prevent employers
