Client Alert: OFLC Government Shutdown Procedures

Information is from AILA's "OFLC Announces Extensions and Emergency Procedures for Applications Impacted by Shutdown." All of the following procedures regard filing from October 1, 2025 and November 2, 2025.

1. The following will occur for submissions mailed and postmarked due to FLAG system shutdown:

   1. The OFLC will manually enter all information received into the FLAG system. Cases will then receive a case number. The OFLC is aiming to send all employers a notification as soon as possible once their case is entered. 

   2. The receipt date of all documents entered will be the day the document was postmarked, NOT the day the OFLC manually entered the case.

2. Responses to communication from the OFLC (ex. Request for Information) which were originally due during the October 1 to November 2 time period will automatically have a 33 day extension. 

   1. No further request is needed as this extension is automatic. 

   2. Per the automatic extension, employers should disregard notifications from the FLAG system, which may warn employers about being outside of the 180 day typical filing period. They can still submit the application.

3. For H-2A, H-2B, and CW-1 applications, the OFLC encourages the use of emergency filing procedures, which differ depending on the application. 

   1. H-2A: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-20/chapter-V/part-655/subpart-B/section-655.134 

   2. H-2B: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-20/chapter-V/part-655/subpart-A/subject-group-ECFR893e730513b48f0/section-655.17 

   3. CW-1: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-20/chapter-V/part-655/subpart-E/subject-group-ECFR430066c2c39321b/section-655.422 

Sources:

https://www.aila.org/library/oflc-announces-extensions-and-emergency-procedures-for-applications-impacted-by-shutdown