With the possibility of a U.S. Government shutdown at 12:01 AM on Wednesday, October 1, 2025, becoming increasingly likely, we provide the following brief summary of how the shutdown will impact the agencies administering immigration processes: 

USCIS: USCIS will remain open as it does not rely on Congress appropriations for its funding. The few programs that are funded by Congress (i.e. E-Verify) will be impacted by a government shutdown. 

Department of State: Visa and passport operations will remain open, however, depending on the length of the shutdown, operations may become limited to diplomatic visas and priority emergency applications. 

Department of Labor: The Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) will stop all operations, including PERM and labor condition application processing, during a government shutdown. 

Customs and Border Protection: Ports of entry will remain open, however, applications that 

are filed at the border may be impacted. 

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE): ICE enforcement and removal operations will continue. The ICE Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) offices will remain open. 

Meltzer Hellrung will continue to monitor this developing situation and will provide additional information as it becomes available. Please contact your Meltzer Hellrung professional if you would like to discuss how the shutdown may affect your workforce.