There was a lawsuit that was filed by the American Immigration Lawyers
Association against USCIS because of the long work permit delays. For anyone who
is going through the immigration process, we all know that there have been very very long
work permit delays. And for those of you who are new to the immigration journey
I would like to give you some context about what I'm talking about when I'm referring to
work permit delays. If you're eligible and you file your application
here in the United States, something called adjustment of status, part of that application
is a work permit. The idea of the work permit is that USCIS wanted to give individuals
this work permit and receive a Social Security card as well
to be able to have a driver's license, to be able to work, to be able to live life to the extent
possible of a normal life while you're going through an immigration journey so the individual
isn't in a state of limbo. That was the idea. You'd have this work permit while you're waiting
to receive your green card. The idea was that you would get this work permit
within 90 days. USCIS had made a commitment. They used to have a policy that says we will
adjudicate, we will make a decision, everyone will receive their work permits in less than 90 days
because that's the idea. You would get the work permit quickly
so you could live and work in the US while you're completing the immigration process.
Fast forward, they were sued because they weren't meeting that
requirement in 90 days. They withdrew their commitment. They said
we're not going to process applications in 90 days. That was extremely unfortunate
The wait time has continued to grow and we are seeing estimated wait times in some cases
more than 12 months. In some service centers, they say that it will take 12 to 21 months
to receive a decision on a work permit. That's insane and I know for those of you who are going
through an immigration process, that's extremely stressful. You need your work permit and we've
actually had many couples who receive their green card before they receive a work permit and
that's really unfortunate because it completely defeats the purpose of having that benefit.
American Immigration Lawyers Association, our attorneys are a part of this organization,
AILA. They have filed this lawsuit regarding work permit delays saying this is unacceptable
something needs to be done. USCIS needs to honor their commitment of processing these work permits
quickly. I wanted to share one of the comments from the
document that was filed from the lawsuit that I thought was was really powerful.
"By its own analysis, USCIS says that it takes only 12 minutes to adjudicate or decide these work
card applications for which it's charging $410. Taking more than 20 months
to get to an application is not only unreasonable but perplexing." I would agree
and I thought that was a very powerful comment. A very powerful thing that I wanted to share with
you in quote. I tell you all of this again, our group wants to maintain positivity and I
think the silver lining in this lawsuit is this is a great way of giving a voice. This
lawsuit is giving a voice to so many immigrants who are going through an immigration process.
Just letting immigration know, letting the administration know
this is absolutely unacceptable. Something needs to change. You need to honor your commitment
of getting these work permits adjudicated quickly in less than 90 days and this can't continue.
This lawsuit was just filed November 9th of 2021. We will keep you posted
of the developments of this lawsuit and hopefully this brings some additional positive
changes in the world of immigration. I hope that this information gives you
some sense of hope and positivity and we wish you the best of luck with your immigration case.