Pabian Law Clients,
I hope all is well. We wanted to provide another update regarding the possibility of a government shutdown. While it appeared extremely unlikely last week that the government would shut down, that all changed over the weekend with the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti in Minnesota, with Senate Democrats vowing not to support a spending bill that includes funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) without significant changes. It looked very likely yesterday that a shutdown was coming – however, there is emerging support in the last 24 hours for a solution that would separate the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spending bill from the other bills. This would allow the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) to continue operating, which would mean no impacts for H-2B visa petitions.
If a deal is not reached and the government shuts down, the DOL would cease reviewing H-2B applications after January 30th (which would delay our ability to file applications for May 1st start dates on Monday, February 2nd). However, if this does occur, all indications point to a short shutdown, as the tolerance for a prolonged shutdown seems to be very low among congressional members and voters.
Please let us know if you have any questions.
Thank you,
Keith