Immigration Consequences of the Government Shutdown

Congress was unable to pass a Fiscal Year 2026 appropriations bill or stopgap spending measure by September 30th, so the government has now entered a shutdown.

This shutdown will have varying levels of impact on immigration as outlined below.

• Fee-based immigration processing – including immigration benefits at US Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) and visas and passports at the U.S. State Department – should continue, though with potential delays if a shutdown is lengthy.
• OPT applications should not be impacted since they are processed by USCIS.
• Department of Labor immigration functions such as Labor Condition Applications (LCA), prevailing wage, and PERM processing are suspended until an appropriations bill or stopgap legislation is passed by Congress. The LCA is a required component for certain visa filings (including petitions for H-1B, E-3 and H-1B1 visas) so there will be delays in filing new petitions in those categories during the shutdown.
• Customs & Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activities and operations will continue during the shutdown.
• The E-Verify system will not be operational during the shutdown, so Duke will not be able to initiate E-Verify queries or resolve tentative non-confirmations. However, Duke will continue to comply with I-9 requirements during the shutdown.
• The Conrad 30 program, which allows certain foreign medical graduates to apply for waivers of the two-year home residency requirement, expired as of September 30, 2025.  Congress will need to reauthorize it before new waiver applications can be submitted.