US Immigration Services makes rapid strides
Surya B. Prasai
April 07, 2008
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) which looks after immigration issues in the United States announced recently that it would complete more than one million naturalization cases during fiscal year 2008 – far exceeding the number of cases it has completed in 2007 This important update comes following a thorough analysis of the work completed during the last six months. According to USCIS Director Emilio Gonzalez , "By the end of the year, I expect USCIS will have finished 36 percent more naturalization cases than last year without compromising national security or the integrity of the naturalization process." Mr. Gonzalez is credited with steering positive results and countering U.S. immigration backlog with additional staff, extended working hours, and staff increases.
Recently, USCIS has been working on internal efficiency reforms and management innovation including detailing employees to work in the most heavily affected offices, quadrupling the funding for overtime and using Asylum Office facilities and staff to conduct naturalization interviews. Recently, USCIS updated the anticipated time it will take to complete naturalization cases, projecting processing times around 13-15 months, a three month improvement from the 16-18 month projection six months ago.
According to Mr. Gonzales, "Our workforce will continue to do everything possible to assist immigrants on the path to legal residency or citizenship, facilitate the smooth transit of others who wish to work here temporarily, and safeguard the security of the United States through the integrity of our immigration system. Modernization efforts to build a fully-electronic immigration platform continue to move forward. More than 34 USCIS facilities will be renovated or replaced nationwide, and more than 3,000 new employees will join our ranks by the end of this year. Our professional training programs are varied and robust."
According to USCIS, in the summer of 2007, the agency received an unprecedented number of applications and petitions for immigration benefits. The months of June, July and August 2007 alone showed USCIS receiving nearly three million filings, compared to 1.8 million filings during the same period a year earlier. The sudden surge included 1.4 million naturalization applications last year, of which, 460,000 were in July alone. USCIS states, while historically filing increases have occurred in advance of fee increases, Presidential elections, immigration debates and new legislation, none of the past increases are close to the magnitude of the last summer´s surge. There were some recent U.S. media comments hovering around processing time. However, the truth is, all applicants have been promptly receiving a formal receipt mailed immediately after USCIS inputs their case processing on-line. The agency in fact, notes, as of March 11, 2008, processing times for naturalization applications filed after June 1, 2007 have been lowered to 14 to 16 months from 16-18 months to process. In all cases, the USCIS has also tried to provide parallel case processing so that administrative redundancies are eliminated when one single applicant files several different forms in a singular application batch.
Among other positive developments, the USCIS and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have also jointly committed themselves to work to eliminate the backlog of name checks pending with the FBI. According to related U.S. government web sources, both agencies have established a series of milestones prioritizing work based on the age of the pending name check. Earlier, the FBI had already eliminated all name check cases pending more than four years. According to USCIS´s Gonzalez, "This plan of action is the product of a strong partnership between USCIS and the FBI to eliminate the backlogs and to strengthen national security." Here again by increasing staff, expanding logistical resources, and applying new business processes, the current goal is to complete 98 percent of all name checks within 30 days. USCIS and the FBI intend to resolve the remaining two percent, which represent the most difficult name checks and require additional time to complete, within 90 days or less. In another positive development, USCIS reports that it is going to accept H-1 Petitions sent to California or Vermont Centers and it that it will not reject an H-1B petition that is subject to the fiscal year 2009 cap solely on the grounds that it was received at the wrong service center (e.g., the petition may have been inadvertently mailed to the California Service Center instead of the Vermont Service Center or vice versa), the only exceptions being petitions earlier sent to the Texas or Nebraska Service Centers.
Earlier, speaking at a hearing on March 27, 2007 on ´Immigration reform and temporary worker program before the U.S. House Appropriates Committee´s Subcommittee on Homeland Security Immigration Reform and the Temporary Worker Program´ USCIS´s Gonzalez had stated, " As a vital contributor to the homeland security mission of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), each day USCIS processes over thirty thousand applications for immigration benefits, conducts one hundred thirty-five thousand national security background checks on these applications, and captures eight thousand sets of fingerprints at its 130 Application Support Centers (ASCs). Each day, at the conclusion of our processes, USCIS welcomes over two thousand new citizens and over thirty-five hundred new permanent residents. We also welcome nearly 200 refugees each day to our shores". Mr. Gonzalez was providing a glimpse on some of the functions which USCIS performs in order to process over six million applications received each year by the agency.
The USCIS has nearly 17,000 employees who work late night and weekend shifts to welcome lawful immigrants to the U.S. society. It draws among some of the most dedicated and hardworking professional staff in the U.S. government infusing them with diverse expertise, training and skills, yet all are focused singularly on handling the nearly 350 percent increase in applications for naturalization within the past one year. It is to be noted that USCIS has accomplished significant contributions to DHS´s overall national security mission and provided valuable immigration services through dedicated and tireless work of its employees and contractors in the past. In 2008, the agency plans to process some 20-25 percent more citizenship applications than in 2007, while maintaining the integrity of the U.S. immigration system and the security of the process.
Recently, USCIS has been working on internal efficiency reforms and management innovation including detailing employees to work in the most heavily affected offices, quadrupling the funding for overtime and using Asylum Office facilities and staff to conduct naturalization interviews. Recently, USCIS updated the anticipated time it will take to complete naturalization cases, projecting processing times around 13-15 months, a three month improvement from the 16-18 month projection six months ago.
According to Mr. Gonzales, "Our workforce will continue to do everything possible to assist immigrants on the path to legal residency or citizenship, facilitate the smooth transit of others who wish to work here temporarily, and safeguard the security of the United States through the integrity of our immigration system. Modernization efforts to build a fully-electronic immigration platform continue to move forward. More than 34 USCIS facilities will be renovated or replaced nationwide, and more than 3,000 new employees will join our ranks by the end of this year. Our professional training programs are varied and robust."
According to USCIS, in the summer of 2007, the agency received an unprecedented number of applications and petitions for immigration benefits. The months of June, July and August 2007 alone showed USCIS receiving nearly three million filings, compared to 1.8 million filings during the same period a year earlier. The sudden surge included 1.4 million naturalization applications last year, of which, 460,000 were in July alone. USCIS states, while historically filing increases have occurred in advance of fee increases, Presidential elections, immigration debates and new legislation, none of the past increases are close to the magnitude of the last summer´s surge. There were some recent U.S. media comments hovering around processing time. However, the truth is, all applicants have been promptly receiving a formal receipt mailed immediately after USCIS inputs their case processing on-line. The agency in fact, notes, as of March 11, 2008, processing times for naturalization applications filed after June 1, 2007 have been lowered to 14 to 16 months from 16-18 months to process. In all cases, the USCIS has also tried to provide parallel case processing so that administrative redundancies are eliminated when one single applicant files several different forms in a singular application batch.
Among other positive developments, the USCIS and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have also jointly committed themselves to work to eliminate the backlog of name checks pending with the FBI. According to related U.S. government web sources, both agencies have established a series of milestones prioritizing work based on the age of the pending name check. Earlier, the FBI had already eliminated all name check cases pending more than four years. According to USCIS´s Gonzalez, "This plan of action is the product of a strong partnership between USCIS and the FBI to eliminate the backlogs and to strengthen national security." Here again by increasing staff, expanding logistical resources, and applying new business processes, the current goal is to complete 98 percent of all name checks within 30 days. USCIS and the FBI intend to resolve the remaining two percent, which represent the most difficult name checks and require additional time to complete, within 90 days or less. In another positive development, USCIS reports that it is going to accept H-1 Petitions sent to California or Vermont Centers and it that it will not reject an H-1B petition that is subject to the fiscal year 2009 cap solely on the grounds that it was received at the wrong service center (e.g., the petition may have been inadvertently mailed to the California Service Center instead of the Vermont Service Center or vice versa), the only exceptions being petitions earlier sent to the Texas or Nebraska Service Centers.
Earlier, speaking at a hearing on March 27, 2007 on ´Immigration reform and temporary worker program before the U.S. House Appropriates Committee´s Subcommittee on Homeland Security Immigration Reform and the Temporary Worker Program´ USCIS´s Gonzalez had stated, " As a vital contributor to the homeland security mission of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), each day USCIS processes over thirty thousand applications for immigration benefits, conducts one hundred thirty-five thousand national security background checks on these applications, and captures eight thousand sets of fingerprints at its 130 Application Support Centers (ASCs). Each day, at the conclusion of our processes, USCIS welcomes over two thousand new citizens and over thirty-five hundred new permanent residents. We also welcome nearly 200 refugees each day to our shores". Mr. Gonzalez was providing a glimpse on some of the functions which USCIS performs in order to process over six million applications received each year by the agency.
The USCIS has nearly 17,000 employees who work late night and weekend shifts to welcome lawful immigrants to the U.S. society. It draws among some of the most dedicated and hardworking professional staff in the U.S. government infusing them with diverse expertise, training and skills, yet all are focused singularly on handling the nearly 350 percent increase in applications for naturalization within the past one year. It is to be noted that USCIS has accomplished significant contributions to DHS´s overall national security mission and provided valuable immigration services through dedicated and tireless work of its employees and contractors in the past. In 2008, the agency plans to process some 20-25 percent more citizenship applications than in 2007, while maintaining the integrity of the U.S. immigration system and the security of the process.