In this video, I would like to discuss work permit delays. Many of you who are going
through an immigration process have probably noticed that it's taking a very long time to
receive your work permit and so, I would like to discuss that in this video. And also give you
some important tips and tricks that you can use in navigating the immigration process. Specifically,
as it relates to delays surrounding work permits. If you're new to our channel, please subscribe.
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this information with others who can benefit. What is going on with work permits?
The delays are very very significant and we are seeing backlogs and delays across the board with
immigration applications. We know that it is so important for you to be able to receive your
work permit, especially for those who have no other status in the United States. It
feels like you're in a state of limbo you. In a lot of states, you won't be able to receive a driver's
license and you can't work. In this video, I really want to break down
some tips that you can use and navigate these difficulties. If you are a client of our
firm, rest assured we are using these tools in your case We are regularly pestering
immigration to find out what is going on. To get updates and to move your case along. First and
foremost before I get into all of that, I do want to let you know that yes, unfortunately,
this is normal right now. This is considered the new normal. These long delays and I hate to be the
bearer of bad news but we definitely want to let you know the truth so you aren't worried that it's
just your case. That there's something wrong with your case. These delays are systemic. They're
across the board and we're seeing work permit delays in all cases. The first tip
that I have for you is to make an outside of normal processing times request.
I know that's a mouthful but it is a tool on the USCIS website. If you go to the USCIS website,
they have several tools and one of them is making an outside of normal processing times request.
I have a separate video on this YouTube channel. It actually walks you through how to make an
outside of normal processing times request and I will post that below. But that is what you do
to check and see this is the processing times that immigration is estimating that
it will take between x amount of months to x amount a month. Say three to six, for example,
that it'll take that long to receive a decision. And then next to that, they will list a date
for your receipt notice that you can actually make an inquiry. We do that for all of
our clients as soon as it's outside of normal processing. We make those requests
Please know that this is a great tool but it doesn't mean that if you make this request,
they will automatically make a decision on your application. It is a way
to poke immigration and say, "Where are you at with my case?"
Frequently, they will respond saying, "Rest assured we're working on it." And sometimes,
we have to make multiple requests month after month. Typically, they say they'll respond within
so many weeks. At the end of that, they will send a response that says, "We're working on it."
You're allowed to keep making those requests. Again,
it's a great tool but not a final solution to get a decision on your case.
You should definitely use the tool though if your case is outside of normal processing times.
The second thing you can do is to call USCIS. I know that calling USCIS
often is difficult because it's hard to get past the robot. To be able to talk to a live agent.
The caveat that I want to give with this is when calling USCIS, typically the person that's
on the phone has limited information. Know that the person who is answering the phone, who is
speaking with you, they are not an immigration officer. They don't have access to your whole file
and they can't give you legal advice. It's very important to understand that they're
just going to be reading the case status that you see online. They're very limited.
We still want to let you know that calling USCIS, that's still a tool that exists. Sometimes we
do use that phone number. Not sometimes. We have hundreds of clients. We use it a lot but it is a
tool that can be used but just know its limitations. The third option would be something
called an ombudsman request. That office is a quality assurance department
and they look into issues that individuals are having in their immigration case. They can
see that something is broken in the immigration system that needs to be fixed. Yes, work permit
delays, that's definitely something that's broken in the immigration system that needs to be fixed.
Making a request to the ombudsman office. They have an online form that you can make that
request. I will post that in the show notes below as well if you're watching this on
our YouTube channel. It's an online request. You let them know,
"My case is outside of normal processing times and I haven't received any kind of decision."
Before you can make that request, you have to do something called exhausting your administrative
resources or remedies, which is a fancy way of saying they require that you reach out to USCIS
first to resolve your issue. You can't skip to this step so that's why I mentioned the tools of
the USCIS, outside of normal processing and the USCIS contact center
You need to make that request typically two or three months
to be able to show you've tried contacting USCIS several times. You're outside of normal processing
times and they still continue to say we're working on it. That's when you could use this tool
Again, please know that this isn't an end-all be-all solution. It can definitely help. It's a tool
you should use. It is a tool that we use currently. The ombudsman website appears that they are not
taking any requests for work permits that are outside of normal processing. We are still making
these requests and I encourage you to do the same. It's very important to let them know that you've
been waiting a long time for your work permit longer than the processing times. You've tried
to reach out to immigration if that happens to be your position and you haven't received anything.
The fourth thing you can do is to receive congressional assistance. That is a
way that you can reach out to your congressional representative.
You can google that and find out who your representatives are
and also to figure out what their process is for making a request. Again, it's a requirement that you
reach out to USCIS, that you have tried to resolve it with them, before you make the congressional
request. The congressional representative can't force USCIS to make a decision
but if you get them involved, it's a great way for them to be in contact with immigration
to get you some clarity about what is going on with your immigration case.
The congressional representative inquiries can definitely be helpful. Again,
that's not a magic solution but it's definitely something you can try and that has to
be after you've tried everything possible to remedy it with USCIS. Typically they will reach
out to immigration and sometimes they'll come back to you and say immigration says that they're
working on it, USCIS is reviewing it. That's hard to hear. That's frustrating. I want to be
optimistic and so, we definitely want to use that tool and see if it can move things along.
Last is an expedite request. Please know that the expedite requests are not for everyone.
They're for a very limited section of cases. They're very rare that you can use it.
An expedite request, immigration is very clear on the work permit, that it's only for very extreme
cases, very extreme circumstances and believe me, I completely agree that being in a state of
limbo and not being able to work for many many months that's extreme. Unfortunately, immigration
has made it clear that they don't consider that to be an extreme situation for an expedite
One of the examples that they give for the expedite request is extreme financial hardship,
extreme financial loss, urgent humanitarian reasons, compelling government interests
You can see these are very specific unique cases. There won't be very many of them that
can actually receive an expedite request approval. Also, be very careful in the expedite request
because if you try to do that for severe extreme financial hardship,
it can negatively impact your case in terms of the I-864 affidavit of support where an immigrant has
to show they won't be a public charge. Be very careful because it can send conflicting
information to immigration. Basically, you're saying, "I won't be a public charge
and I can support myself. " And then if you try to do an expedite on the work permit for I-765
saying you have severe financial hardship, it can cause issues on that front.
Just be aware of that. I'm not saying that you couldn't make an expedite request but definitely
make sure you speak with an attorney before you do that to see if that's even a viable
option for your case. Those are five tools that you can use for
these delayed work permits. Again, none of them is a magic solution but they are
tools that you should definitely use to keep things moving, to keep
pestering immigration to keep your case on track. I want to give you some hope too,
I know that it's hard to hear that this is normal and that there isn't a magic solution.
But to give you some hope, we deal with with immigration on a daily basis. This is
what we dedicate our lives to and what we are seeing is that immigration really is
working internally to solve some of these systemic issues that they have with extreme backlogs
This is educated speculation on my part but what we are seeing is that they are
making concerted efforts to make things better and I'll give you a
few examples of what we are seeing. What we are seeing is that immigration is trying to do things
like reusing biometrics, reusing fingerprints that people already have in the system from fingerprint
appointments they've had before. Reusing those biometrics appointments is great because then
that means they can move on to the next step in your case without having to take biometrics
again. The more people that have to go for those appointments, that does not help the backlog.
Also, we are seeing that immigration is going to be issuing work permits for a two-year period instead
of a one-year period. This is great because then there'll be less work permit renewals happening.
They'll be happening less frequently and that will definitely help with the backlog as well.
Immigration is doing other unique things for individuals who are renewing their green
card. They're sending them an automatic extension of their green card while they wait for the next
one. It limits the amount of contact that a person has to have with immigration. It frees them
up to be able to address the backlog. Last but not least, we are seeing faster processing
times in some case types. Specifically, the I-130 and in some cases, the I-751 removal of conditions
We are seeing some faster processing times in those cases. We can see that immigration
is trying to address the backlogs and we hope that they can continue improving and prioritizing
all of the cases that they have and moving things forward so you can receive your work permit
as soon as possible. Best of luck with your case. Thanks for watching!