Hi, everyone. Welcome, I'm Attorney Megan Pastrana. Great news is that USCIS,
very recently as of two days ago I guess it depends on when you're watching this, if you're
watching this with me live or on another day, but on March 29th of 2022, USCIS announced their plan
to reduce backlogs and provide relief for work permit holders, individuals who are waiting for
their work permits. I'd really like to go over this great news with all of you, what it means,
and when we will really start to see the impact of this announcement in these changes. There's
a couple things that USCIS is doing and the first thing is that they are going to increase capacity,
improve technology, and expand staffing. They have been talking about doing this for a while
now and I know they are actively working on their technology. Our attorneys here at
Immigration for Couples, we're active members of the American Immigration Lawyers Association
and we actually get to attend meetings with officials from USCIS and the National Visa Center
and get some behind-the-scenes updates on what is going on with immigration. They have spoken with
us about the technology that they are implementing and most importantly that they are hiring new
officers, hiring more individuals to staff the USCIS offices to really cover these cases the high
volume of cases and to get through the backlog. Those are a few of the steps that they are taking
but probably, the most exciting or the most important part of this announcement
is that they are announcing internal metrics or internal goals for USCIS for completing cases.
That's the most exciting part of this announcement. Pre-pandemic, all of the
funding issues of immigration work permits were processed very regularly almost always in 90 days
or less. One of the internal metrics is three months. The three-month metric is that basically
they're saying our goal internally, we are working on improving technology, we're hiring more people,
and our internal goal is an entire team here at USCIS is to process work permit applications and
have a decision in less than three months which is great, which is the way that it should be
because the whole idea of receiving a work permit is so you can work and be part of society and then
especially if you're waiting on your green card to keep you out of that feeling of limbo because
that's horrible to feel that you are living in a place and you can't fully live here you can't
work, you won't be able to get a license, and things like that. This is really exciting news.
The other internal metric, the other internal goal that they have for other case types,
this isn't just for work permits, they are across the board working on reducing backlogs and so
that's very exciting news for anyone who's going through really any type of immigration case but
especially here at Immigration for Couples. I know everyone in our group and our clients
are most concerned about their adjustment applications, fiancé visa applications,
and spouse visa applications. If you're new to immigration, all of these numbers might not mean
anything but don't worry. I'm going to go over what these applications are. The other internal
goal is six months. That they want to be able to complete cases their goal is make a decision
on these cases in six months. All of these numbers here below, like I said, if you're
not familiar, if you're just getting started with your immigration journey,
it's naturalization applications, adjustment of status or green card applications, fiancé visa
and spouse petitions. This is really exciting news. I know there has been a lot of individuals
in our Facebook group and all couples going through the process asking themselves,
"Should I have done the fiancé visa or should I've done the spouse visa?" Seeing processing times
continuing to increase, it's very disheartening and you spend a lot of time wondering, "Did I
pick the right path? Am I ever going to get to the finish line?" This is really exciting news
that they have created these internal goals, that they've made this announcement, and that they are
making concerted efforts to reducing the backlogs. I do want to go back to this um part of their goal
that says that they want to reach this goal by the end of fiscal year 2023. While this is great news,
it's not going to happen overnight. But it is an announcement, it is something that they are
actively implementing right now so you might not receive a decision as soon as you would
like on your case but this is their goal to get back to this pre-pandemic levels of review,
to receive decisions on cases. It is a goal for the end of the year but it's still exciting news
and hopefully, for all of you, if you're waiting and you're in the middle of waiting for your work
permit or any other type of application that you receive a decision sooner than the current
posted timeline. I hope that that gives you all a little bit of positivity to go into your weekend
and also to continue with your immigration case knowing that immigration is taking these steps.
Again, I'm really excited to be able to share this news with all of you and if you are just
getting started in your immigration journey, I encourage you to check out our free resource
center at immigrationforcouples.com. We have a free webinar and then also free downloadable
checklists and even a relationship evidence guide. That's all at immigrationforcouples.com.