USCIS to Receive $123 Million from DHS Funding Bill: EB-3 Processing Time Impact

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is slated to receive $123 million in funding as part of a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding bill. This injection of federal resources represents a significant budgetary development for the agency responsible for adjudicating millions of immigration applications annually, including employment-based green card petitions like EB-3. For EB-3 applicants, USCIS funding levels are directly tied to staffing, technology infrastructure, and overall adjudication capacity. Historically, resource constraints have been cited as a contributing factor to lengthy processing backlogs across employment-based preference categories. Additional appropriations could support the hiring of new officers or the expansion of electronic processing systems. The funding arrives amid ongoing concerns from immigrant communities about green card processing delays and backlogs across multiple visa categories, including EB-3 skilled workers, professionals, and unskilled workers. Increased operational funding may help USCIS address some of these systemic capacity challenges over time. Applicants currently in the EB-3 pipeline should monitor official USCIS processing time updates and the monthly Visa Bulletin for changes that may reflect improved throughput resulting from this funding. While immediate changes are unlikely, longer-term improvements in adjudication timelines remain a possibility.