Washington DC, Oct. 2 -- In another challenging development for Indian professionals in America, H-1B visas and green card processing is set to be affected as the US government shut down on Wednesday. The shutdown came after President Donald Trump's Republicans and the opposition Democrats were unable to agree on a congressional budget bill that would fund the government. Immigration lawyers told HT that the shutdown, which ends funding for non-essential government services, will particularly impact new applicants for H-1B visas and employment-based green cards. This development came after the Trump administration announced a new $100,000 H-1B visa application fee for new applicants. The fee is expected to make it uneconomical for US companies to hire foreign talent. In addition, US senators announced new bipartisan legislation this week that would restrict access to H-1B and L1 visas. The H-1B visa process involves filing a Labour Condition Application (LCA) with the US department of labour. Once the LCA is approved, the firm sponsoring the visa can move forward with the application process with the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Similarly, the department has to provide a PERM certification that allows an individual to apply for an employment-based green card. However, the government shutdown snaps funding to the labour department, which will be forced to cease processing of these applications. "That means, nobody can get a new H-1B, transfer employers, or change status to H-1B unless they already got the LCA signed before today. H-1Bs will be unavailable until the DOL resumes operations," says Henry Lindpere, an immigration lawyer from Manifest Law. Sophie Alcorn, a Silicon Valley-based immigration lawyer who works with a number of Indian tech professionals, believes new applicants will be hit hardest. "The shutdown creates a mixed bag of consequences, hitting new applications the hardest while largely sparing those already in process. For the Indian diaspora, who represent a huge portion of H-1B and employment-based green card applicants, the biggest immediate impact comes from the department of labour," she said. Indian professionals will start facing significant delays in their H-1B and green card application processes. However, some visa operations will remain unaffected. USCIS handles H-1B, L1 and green card petitions and will continue to process existing cases given that the agency is funded by visa fees and not by Congress. Those applying for family-based green cards will also be unaffected. The state department is expected to continue visa operations at embassies and consulates in India and abroad given that these processes are funded by visa fees. "However, there's a small risk that individual consular posts could limit services if they run low on funds," Alcorn said....