Session, we're gonna talk about U S C I S backlog and a recommendation from the ombudsman's
office to clear things up. We're gonna cover the, uh, latest annual report that the ombudsman
sent to Congress with recommendations on how U S C I S can clear some things up,
but more specifically, we're gonna hone in on the issue around the employment authorization
process, the E a D the work permit process, which for many of you is an awful, awful, uh, process
and an extremely long wait. So as you're joining this session, say, hello below, tell me where
you're watching me from and your name. Also, let me know how you're feeling today. It's so great
for you to be with me in this one. I'm Latoya McBean POY and immigration lawyer in New York,
working with client all over the world. Complex immigration matters. Reach out to us at McBean
law, so that we may take a look at your matter and see how we might be able to help you.
We can be reached@mcbeanlaw.com or at (516) 866-3900. Um, you may call or text right
call or text also friends. Don't forget to subscribe to my channel on YouTube,
on McBean immigration TV, and hit the notification bell. So that you'll be in the lo of in the loop,
in the loop, on my videos each week, including sessions, such as this one, also subscribe to
our firm's weekly newsletter. Each week, we send out really thoughtful immigration, uh,
related news Q and as stories and some other good stuff subscribe today@mcbeanlaw.com.
All right, so let's get into it. This is a super interesting, um, annual report that, uh, the
ombudsman's office for U S C I S sent to Congress. And I'm gonna share my screen with you. Thank you
guys so much for being with me in this one. Now let's look at this, um, let's look at this report
as I pull it up on my screen here. Okay, here we go. So this is the ombudsman's
report guys, the annual report to, um, to the house in the Senate judiciary committees. And
it was submitted on, uh, June 30th, as a matter of fact, and it has a number of recommendations
in here about ways that U S C I S can improve, um, their work. And, uh, in, in fact, with respect to
the E a D process, I think that issue is more con most concern. And obviously for those of you who
are here in the United States, and you're going through an immigration process, it's incredibly
frustrating, right? To deal with all of The backlog issues it's taken forever these days
to, um, to obtain an E D. And so I'm gonna just, uh, shift this over a little bit, hoping that you
guys can see the screen here, but what are some of the ways that the ombudsman has recommended
that U S C I S um, move things along faster for the E a D process? Well, the first recommendation
that, uh, they make is build on existing automatic extension period. Okay. They, they wanna promote,
they want U S C I S to do more automatic extensions. So as to avoid the interruptions
in people's lives with respect to their work authorization. And so, uh, automatic extension
periods should continue and, uh, be built on, um, be made more available to more applicants. Uh,
secondly provide better options for non-immigrant spouses to renew their employment authorization.
Okay. It, this can be such a hassle, the spousal process, um, for those of you who
are the primary applicant, and then your spouses here, uh, as a beneficiary or so as such.
And it could be incredibly frustrating for that individual, um, to obtain a work permit from
the government. So provide better options for these non-immigrant spouses to renew
their employment authorization. Thirdly, allow applicants to file for renewal Eads earlier,
and issue renewal Eads with validity periods that begin when the original E D expires fourthly
continue to expedite E D renewals for workers in certain occupations in the national interest, as
you guys may be well aware of. And if you're not this, uh, that you should know that if you're in
healthcare, the government has provided a way for you to just call them, call the contact center, to
inform them that you're a healthcare worker and, uh, your eed should be expedited. And the process
does work. They do issue the Eeds right away, but for those of, but, but for some people who,
uh, during this screening process, the government may ask certain questions and you don't have the
answers readily available. Uh, they may send you a request for more evidence, uh, so that you could
provide that proof to them that you are in fact in healthcare. Okay. So, uh, the ombudsman is
recommending that U S C I S continue to expedite E a D renewals for workers in certain occupations
next, uh, further explore and augment. The use of technology include an online
file and machine learning to automate E a D Processing next, uh, implement new regulations
that provide more flexibility for U S C I S, and approve workers during periods of backlogs or long
processing delays. Then they also recommend in increase, uh, flexibility in the form. I nine the
employment verification, uh, a form, but increased flexibility with that process and eliminate the
need for a separate E a D application when filing for certain benefit. Those are the recommendations
that the, uh, ombudsman's office bud, um, Budsman office has with respect to the E D process.
They also have recommendations involving the, uh, advanced parole, the travel document,
um, and also they talk in here about, uh, improving access to the expedite process. Um, uh,
there's so much redundancies and, um, inefficiencies in how U S C I S is handling
those requests to expedite, uh, certain cases. And then, uh, the ombudsman is also recommending that,
um, initiating a discussion on ways to address the affirmative asylum backlog.
The asylum backlog has grown to more than 430,000 pending cases. And, but their,
uh, recommended here is that best practices be applied from refugee process into asylum backlog
reduction effort, uh, identifying and group in cases to increase efficiencies during,
uh, efficiencies and interviews and adjudications, prioritizing asylum applicants. Um, you know,
all of this guys, you know, as I'm looking through this report and, uh,
some of this I'm actually obviously seeing for the, uh, first time here, uh, but in any event,
as I'm looking through this report, it's apparent to me that this is quite ambitious, lofty, and
does U S C I S have the resources to make this happen right now? They may argue, no, they do
not have the, um, the resources to fulfill all of these recommendations. I mean, there's a lot here
expanding the role of the asylum veteran center to triage cases, um, and, and all sorts of
recommendations here around the asylum application process, including including recommendations for,
um, for implement, um, uh, obtaining proof of employment authorization for asylum applicants
in removal proceeding, uh, this, you know, this, this is so ambitious, right? And so can U S C I S
uh, handle this right now at their funding level? Uh, let me just jump back on the screen
here. Can they handle this guys? What Do you comment below? Can they handle this?
They're always talking about, you know, um, at least over the last few years, financial issues,
more funding is needed. More money is needed, and, oh, by the way, um, they may be raising their
application and petition fees. Um, there's some, uh, talks with regard to them moving forward on
the proposal that they had on the table about a year ago. Uh, so that's in process. Okay. That's
going through a rule process, um, in DC rule making process in DC. So, you know, they're
looking for ways to, to have, make more money, um, so that they can fulfill some of the things that
is, uh, being recommended here in this report. Can they do better with what they have now?
I think so. Why not? I mean, although I don't work for them, it's easy for me to say that, right.
Oh, they should be able to do it. Why not? Well, I say that only because,
you know, as a practitioner, we have cases pending in before U S C I S they're our primary agency
who we work with, you know, we see as attorneys, the inefficiencies in their system, we see that,
yeah. They can in fact, um, make faster decisions on cases. They don't have to sit on certain cases,
as long as they sit on them, they don't have to discriminate against certain, um, groups of
individuals who they are known to discriminate against. They don't have to that. This is this
issue around fraud alert involving individuals from this country here. Why are they, you know,
why are they still moving forward with a lot of those fraud alerts related to this particular
country or that particular country? There's just a lot going on behind the scenes guys that
are slowing down their process. And some of these things can be
dealt with and gotten rid of. So that's my 2 cents in this one. Yes. I think U S C I S can do better,
should do better. You're paying good money in your filing fees. And, uh, you deserve to get
your E D your work permit on time. You deserve your petitions to be approved. And, um, I'm hoping
that through this report from the ombudsman's office, U S C I S will take a look at some of
these inefficiencies and make a stronger case to Congress that they need more money. And, um,
not that they need more money necessarily, but hold, you know, they, they need to just
change the way that they're doing things. Okay. They need to change some of their processes.
All right, guys, that's the latest that I want to share with you in this session. Thank you so
much for being with me, share this video with other people, share it with your feed comment
below. Let me know your thoughts. Let me know your experiences with your U S C I S process. And guys,
I will see you in the next one. Thanks so much for being with me.