USCIS director
Ur Jaddou recently conducted a livestream discussing some of the upcoming changes
the agency will make to reduce the current backlog
of 9.5 million applications.
The agency also recently announced that they have officially extended
premium processing and plan
to make it available to even more types of applications in the future.
These actions are in addition to other improvements
we've recently discussed on my channels such as the increase of the automatic
extension period for EADs and the release of their new processing time tool.
So let's take a look at everything USCIS is doing to fix the case
backlog as well as what they have planned for the coming months.
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Unlike the NVC Visa Interview backlog, the USCIS case
backlog has been a growing problem since
before COVID19 even began.
At the end of fiscal year 2013, USCIS already
had 3 million pending applications, and that number increased
to 6.1 million by September 2020.
Part of the reason for this increase was budget constraints.
USCIS has not raised its fees
since 2016, and Congress has mandated that the costs of adjudicating
immigration applications be funded directly by applicants' fees.
This means that USCIS is largely a self-funded agency.
Trump administration policies also contributed to the backlog
by making application forms longer, requiring more in-person
interviews, requesting more evidence, and scrutinizing renewal applications.
Then, when the pandemic hit, the government services
closed down in 2020 and the backlog surged from 6.1 million
to 9.5 million applications as of February 2022.
In response to the ballooning backlog, USCIS has been implementing a series
of changes to reduce the amount of time it takes to adjudicate immigration cases.
One of those was waiting in-person interviews for H-1, H-3, H-4, L,
O, P, Q, F, M,
and J visas through the end of 2022.
They also indefinitely waived the interview for renewals
of any visa type within 48 months of expiration.
Earlier this year, USCIS also announced the establishment of cycle time goals,
which reflect how many months worth of pending cases for a particular form
are awaiting a decision.
They are using these internally to ensure their team is adjudicating cases quickly
enough to stay ahead of the backlog, and in an effort to be more transparent
about their progress USCIS recently released their new case Processing
Time tool, which now reflects how long it takes them to complete
80% of each case type over the past six months.
And for work authorizations, the agency published a temporary final rule
that increases the automatic extension period for EADs by a full year,
from 180 days to 540 days.
This went into effect May 4th and is set to last until the end of 2023.
In a recent livestream, USCIS Director Ur Jaddou
announced some of the results of their efforts to fix the backlog,
as well as additional changes the agency is making in the coming months.
Over the past two years, they have managed to reuse biometrics for 2.5 million
applicants, which reduced the number of pending biometric appointments
from 1.4 million in January 2021 to 7000 in May of 2022.
They also eliminated the backlog of cases that were waiting for intake processing,
which was more than 1 million in January of 2021.
Going forward, they are not only going to expand premium
processing for certain I-140 applications, which just went to effect on June 1st,
but also further expand premium processing to various other forms.
These include form I-539 application to extend or change
nonimmigrant status and form I-765 application for employment authorization.
This will provide relief to spouses and relatives of H-1B, TN, and L-1 workers
whose derivative applications have been experiencing delays
even after the principle beneficiaries application was approved.
Ms. Jaddou also mentioned that Congress has appropriated
$275 million for USCIS in fiscal year 2022 and expects
to receive additional funding in 2023 to address the 4400
job vacancies that need to be filled if they are going to fix the backlog.
What do you think?
Will USCIS be successful in reducing the 9.5 million
outstanding applications by the end of next year?
Leave me a comment and let me know.
And if you want to watch some of my other videos
that go more in-depth into each of the actions being taken
by USCIS, I'll include links to those videos here.
I'll also continue to bring you immigration news as it's available,
so be sure to subscribe and turn on notifications if you haven't done so yet.
Click here to watch this video next and I'll see you there.