USCIS, DOS, DOL, CBP, ICE, EOIR: Who Does What in the US Immigration System (2026 Plain-English Map)

Last reviewed: 2026-07-20.

The US immigration system is not run by a single agency. Petitions, visas, labor certification, border admission, enforcement, and the courts are split across six bodies in three different cabinet departments — and a single employment-based case commonly touches four of them before it ends. For employers, HR teams, and affected individuals, knowing which agency owns which step tells you where a case actually sits, who to contact, and where the governing rules and data are published.

The two-department split: DHS vs. DOJ vs. State and Labor

The starting point is that the agencies live in different departments, and that structure explains a lot about how cases move.

- DHS (Department of Homeland Security) houses USCIS (benefits and petitions), CBP (admission at the border), and ICE (interior enforcement). The Department of Homeland Security, through U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), provides immigration benefits to people who are entitled to stay in the U.S. on a temporary or permanent basis.

• DOS (Department of State) issues visas abroad through consulates and its Bureau of Consular Affairs.
• DOL (Department of Labor) tests the US labor market before certain workers can be sponsored.
• DOJ (Department of Justice) runs the immigration courts through EOIR.

A structurally important point: the courts are deliberately separate from the enforcers. EOIR was created in 1983 through an internal DOJ reorganization which combined the Board of Immigration Appeals with the immigration judge function previously performed by the former INS; besides establishing EOIR as a separate agency within DOJ, this reorganization made the immigration courts independent of INS, the agency charged with enforcement of federal immigration laws.

USCIS: petitions, applications, and benefits inside the US

USCIS is the adjudicator of immigration benefits. USCIS oversees immigration to the United States and approves (or denies) immigrant petitions, and more. Employers file the Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker, and family petitioners file the Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative. U.S. citizens and lawful permanent resident petitioners residing in the United States must file Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, with USCIS.

USCIS also handles adjustment of status — the pathway for someone already in the US to become a permanent resident without leaving. If you are already in the United States, you can apply for permanent resident status without having to return to your home country to complete processing. This process is called adjustment of status. Notably, USCIS is largely fee-funded: USCIS is primarily funded by immigration and naturalization benefit request fees charged to requestors, deposited into the Immigration Examinations Fee Account (IEFA). Fees change by rule — check the current figure on the USCIS Fee Schedule (Form G-1055) rather than relying on a fixed number.

DOL: testing the labor market before sponsorship

For many employment-based green cards and some temporary categories, the Department of Labor goes first. A permanent labor certification issued by the Department of Labor allows an employer to hire a foreign worker to work permanently in the United States. In most instances, before the U.S. employer can submit an immigration petition to DHS's USCIS, the employer must obtain a certified labor certification application from DOL's Employment and Training Administration.

Two DOL products matter most. First, the prevailing wage determination: Employers must have a prevailing wage determination for the job opportunity issued from OFLC's National Prevailing Wage Center (NPWC) prior to filing a PERM application. Second, the PERM labor certification itself, which confirms the market test. The labor certification satisfies two DOL regulatory criteria: that there are insufficient U.S. workers available, qualified, willing and able to fill the offered position at the prevailing wage or higher; and that hiring a foreign worker will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of similarly employed U.S. workers.

Both are filed through the Foreign Labor Application Gateway (FLAG). In 2019, OFLC began rolling out the FLAG system — a cloud-based portal serving as the application filing and case management solution for all foreign labor certification programs, including H-2A, H-2B, LCA, CW-1, Prevailing Wage and PERM applications. H-1B, H-1B1, and E-3 cases require a Labor Condition Application (LCA) rather than a full PERM. One structural quirk to note: because DOL relies on federal appropriations funding, rather than fees paid by customers, to maintain its operations , DOL processing can pause during a government shutdown even while fee-funded USCIS continues.

DOS: visas abroad, the National Visa Center, and the Visa Bulletin

The State Department controls the visa itself — the document placed in a passport abroad. The Bureau of Consular Affairs issues U.S. passports, informs and assists Americans abroad, and strengthens America's security and safety by adjudicating and rigorously screening visa applications for travel to the United States. A consular officer, not USCIS, makes the visa call overseas, and there are only two outcomes: The consular officer will either issue or refuse the visa.

Between petition approval and the consular interview sits the National Visa Center (NVC). The NVC serves a clerical function in processing immigrant visas by collecting visa application fees and documentation and retains the visa petition until the case is ready for adjudication by a consular officer abroad. DOS also publishes the Visa Bulletin, which governs waiting lines where demand exceeds the statutory annual caps. The Visa Bulletin allows you to check your place in the immigrant visa queue, providing the most recent date for when a visa number is available for the different categories and countries. A visa must be available before you can take one of the final steps in becoming a lawful permanent resident. Your priority date is your place in line; for PERM cases it is the date DOL received the PERM, and for petitions without PERM it is the I-140/I-130 receipt date. The exact cut-off dates change monthly — always read the current Visa Bulletin at the source.

CBP: admission at the port of entry

A visa lets you travel to a port of entry; it does not guarantee entry. That final decision belongs to CBP. A CBP officer will make the determination on your admissibility at the time you present yourself at a port of entry and ask for admission to the United States. Likewise, the U.S. Department of State has the final determination on whether to issue you a new or renewal nonimmigrant visa.

At admission, CBP creates the Form I-94, Arrival/Departure Record, which is the operative record of status and authorized stay. When you arrive at a port of entry, the CBP officer will issue you an electronic Form I-94 upon admission. The Form I-94 is the official record confirming your legal status and the purpose of your stay, including how long you may stay (your admission period) and your immigration status. The I-94 is now largely electronic and retrievable free at the CBP I-94 website. USCIS can also issue an equivalent I-94 when it approves an extension of stay or change of status inside the US.

ICE: interior enforcement and the government's courtroom lawyers

ICE is the interior enforcement and investigative agency. ICE's annual budget is primarily devoted to three operational directorates — Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) and the Office of the Principal Legal Advisor (OPLA). A fourth directorate, Management and Administration, supports the three operational branches.

- ERO handles the enforcement pipeline: ERO manages all aspects of the immigration enforcement process, including identification and arrest, domestic transportation, detention, bond management, and supervised release, including alternatives to detention.

- HSI is the criminal investigative arm targeting transnational crime, including visa and benefit fraud and worksite crime. - OPLA is the government's lawyer in court: The Office of the Principal Legal Advisor is the exclusive legal representative for ICE in deportation proceedings against people in the country illegally in immigration courts.

Enforcement priorities and detention practices shift with policy; consult ICE's official pages and the Office of Homeland Security Statistics for current data rather than assuming a fixed posture.

EOIR: the immigration courts and appeals

When the government seeks to remove someone, the case is decided by a judge inside DOJ, not DHS. The primary mission of EOIR is to adjudicate immigration cases by fairly, expeditiously, and uniformly interpreting the Nation's immigration laws; under delegated authority from the Attorney General, EOIR conducts immigration court proceedings, appellate reviews, and administrative hearings. EOIR has three components: the Office of the Chief Immigration Judge, which manages the immigration courts where judges adjudicate individual cases; the Board of Immigration Appeals, which primarily conducts appellate reviews of immigration judge decisions; and the Office of the Chief Administrative Hearing Officer, which adjudicates immigration-related employment cases.

The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) is the top administrative authority, and its reach extends beyond removal: The BIA has nationwide jurisdiction to hear appeals from certain decisions made by immigration judges and by district directors of DHS. That includes appeals of some USCIS petition denials, such as a denied I-130. Adverse BIA decisions can then be challenged in the federal courts of appeals. EOIR's backlog is large and volatile — check EOIR's published statistics for current pending-case figures.

How one employment case travels across the agencies

A typical EB-2/EB-3 employment green card threads the system like this:

1. DOL (FLAG): Employer obtains a prevailing wage determination and files PERM labor certification. 2. USCIS (I-140): After certification, the employer files the I-140. Note the statutory linkage: effective July 16, 2007, all labor certifications expire 180 days from the date of certification, and USCIS must receive any Form I-140 based on an approved labor certification before that 180-day validity period elapses.

3. DOS (Visa Bulletin / NVC) or USCIS (adjustment): The worker waits for a priority date to become current, then either adjusts status with USCIS inside the US or does consular processing abroad. If the petition is approved and the beneficiary is abroad, USCIS sends the approved petition to the Department of State's National Visa Center, where it remains until an immigrant visa number is available.

4. CBP: If consular processing, the worker is admitted at a port of entry, where CBP makes the final admission decision and issues the I-94. 5. ICE / EOIR: These enter only if enforcement or removal proceedings arise.

For a temporary H-1B worker, the caps are statutory constants worth stating plainly. Unless determined to be exempt, H-1B petitions are subject to either the 65,000 statutory cap or the 20,000 statutory visa cap exemption. By statute, H-1B visas are subject to an annual numerical limit of 65,000 visas each fiscal year, and the first 20,000 petitions filed on behalf of individuals with U.S. master's degrees or higher are exempt from this cap.

Key terms

- Petition vs. application: A petition is generally filed by an employer or relative on someone's behalf; an application is filed on one's own behalf. - PERM: DOL's permanent labor certification process testing the US labor market before an EB-2/EB-3 petition. - Prevailing wage: The average wage paid to similarly employed workers in a specific occupation in the area of intended employment.

• LCA: Labor Condition Application, DOL's wage attestation for H-1B, H-1B1, and E-3 cases.
• Priority date: Your place in the immigrant-visa line, set by the PERM or petition filing date.
• Visa Bulletin: DOS's monthly chart of Final Action Dates and Dates for Filing.
• Adjustment of status: Becoming a permanent resident from within the US via USCIS.
• Consular processing: Obtaining an immigrant visa abroad through a US consulate.
• Form I-94: CBP's arrival/departure record documenting status and authorized stay.
• Removal proceedings: Court cases before EOIR judges, prosecuted by ICE's OPLA.

Primary sources

• USCIS — Providing Immigration Benefits (DHS): https://www.dhs.gov/providing-immigration-benefits-information — What USCIS adjudicates and how benefits are structured.
• USCIS — Consular Processing: https://www.uscis.gov/green-card/green-card-processes-and-procedures/consular-processing — How USCIS hands cases to DOS's NVC.
• USCIS — H-1B Cap Season: https://www.uscis.gov/working-in-the-united-states/temporary-workers/h-1b-specialty-occupations/h-1b-cap-season — Statutory 65,000/20,000 cap structure and registration.
• USCIS — Visa Availability and Priority Dates: https://www.uscis.gov/green-card/green-card-processes-and-procedures/visa-availability-and-priority-dates — Priority dates and chart usage.
• USCIS — Fee Schedule (Form G-1055): https://www.uscis.gov/g-1055 — Current filing fees (values change by rule).
• DOL OFLC — PERM (FLAG): https://flag.dol.gov/programs/perm — Permanent labor certification steps.
• DOL OFLC — Prevailing Wages: https://flag.dol.gov/programs/prevailingwages — Wage determination process and forms.
• DOL ETA — Foreign Labor Certification: https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/foreign-labor — Program overview and public disclosure data.
• DOS — U.S. Visas: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas.html — Consular visa categories and process.
• DOS — Visa Bulletin: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/visa-law0/visa-bulletin.html — Monthly cut-off dates.
• CBP — I-94: https://www.cbp.gov/travel/international-visitors/i-94 — Admission records and status.
• CBP — I-94 retrieval: https://i94.cbp.dhs.gov — Retrieve/print the electronic I-94.
• ICE — Who We Are: https://www.ice.gov/about-ice — ERO, HSI, and OPLA directorates.
• EOIR — About the Office (DOJ): https://www.justice.gov/eoir/about-office — Immigration court structure and mission.
• EOIR — Board of Immigration Appeals: https://www.justice.gov/eoir/board-of-immigration-appeals — Appellate jurisdiction.

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This explainer is informational only and is not legal advice. Immigration law is fact-specific and changes; consult a licensed immigration attorney about any specific situation, and verify current rules against the linked official sources.