The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's, U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services (USCIS) Ombudsman announced a significant decline in the
number of pending FBI name checks for individuals seeking immigration benefits
in the United States.
FBI name checks, one of several security
screening tools used by the USCIS, have delayed the adjudication of benefits
for many thousands of applicants.
"The significant reduction in
long-pending FBI name checks will result in improved service for USCIS
customers," USCIS Ombudsman Michael Dougherty said. "Congress provided the
necessary funding for USCIS and the FBI to complete a larger percentage of FBI
name checks in a timely manner. We appreciate the resolve of USCIS and the FBI
in realizing this customer service achievement; both lack of funding and delays
had been a significant concern of my office. We are happy to see significant
progress is being made."
The USCIS Ombudsman had identified FBI name
check delays as one of the major hurdles to improved customer service at USCIS
in his 2008 and 2007 Annual Reports to Congress.
There were 269,943 name checks
pending on May 6, 2008. There are 95,449 pending as of August 12, 2008.
There were 185,162 name checks
pending for more than six months on May 6, 2008. There are 61,817 pending more
than six months as of August 12, 2008.
The Ombudsman also noted that USCIS has
updated its projected naturalization processing times in an
August 11, 2008 announcement.
USCIS
now anticipates naturalization application processing will average 10-12 months
nationally by the end of September 2008. Previously USCIS estimated that
processing naturalization applications would take 16-18 months before reducing
the estimate to 14-16 months and later to 13-15 months.
Average
processing times significantly increased after the surge in immigration filings
in the summer of 2007. From June 2007 to August 2007, USCIS received nearly 3
million applications, compared to 1.8 filings during the same period in the
previous year. In FY 2007, USCIS received 1.4 million naturalization
applications, nearly double the annual volume.
The USCIS Ombudsman's
2008 annual report comparing naturalization application processing times can be
found at
Section II, A, pp. 14-15.
The USCIS
Ombudsman is an independent office of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
that reports directly to the DHS Deputy Secretary. As mandated by the Homeland
Security Act of 2002 § 452, theUS CIS Ombudsman: (1) assists individuals
and employers in resolving problems with USCIS; (2) identifies areas in which
individuals and employers have problems in dealing with USCIS; and (3) proposes
changes to mitigate identified problems. For more information about the Office
of the USCIS Ombudsman please visit
www.dhs.gov/cisombudsman.
ANTONIO G. REVILLA III is a
"Former US Immigration Prosecutor " Immigration
Lawyer Miami, Deportation Defense
The Miami immigration lawyers
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