Immigration accelerates the processing of citizenship applications

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced its intention to reduce the processing time for applications for naturalization (N-400) and applications for registering a permanent residence or for adjusting status (I-485).

Фото: Depositphotos

USCIS announced its readiness to implement a national strategy to reduce differences in processing times depending on location - this applies to the form N-400 and forms I-485.

Since late 2015, immigration has experienced increased processing times due to higher-than-expected workloads. In 2017, the service reported, claims received were up 15,6% from the previous fiscal year, and in 2016 they were up 25,5% from 2015.

As noted by USCIS, an increase in the volume of applications has affected the offices of the service unequally and led to some discrepancies in the processing time in the field.

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Now the immigration service is trying to redistribute the load between offices to reduce processing time. Therefore, an interview can be assigned to a candidate in a branch located outside the ordinary jurisdiction. Applicants may receive notice of the appointment of an interview or other types of notifications (for example, requests for evidence) from the local branch also outside the ordinary jurisdiction.

However, USCIS says these workload changes will not affect where applicants submit their biometrics—they will be directed to the nearest center. Applicants must follow the instructions regarding any notices they receive from USCIS.

USCIS still seeks to process applications, petitions and requests for immigration benefits as efficiently and effectively as possible, in accordance with all applicable laws, policies and regulations, while ensuring the integrity of the immigration system, the service notes.

If you have questions about notifications that come to you, contact directly USCIS contact center.

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How to find out how long the Immigration Service will process your application

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services offers webpage and data processing systemwhich displays information about applications in a more readable format, as well as for some forms, and shows the time required to process the application.

The page tests four forms using a new automated methodology for calculating processing times:

• Form N-400, application for naturalization;
• Form I-90, application for replacement of a permanent resident card;
• I-485 form, application for registration of a permanent residence or status adjustment; Form I-751, application for removal of the convention from the green card.

The new data processing methodology is automated and allows USCIS to publish data on the processing time of the application within two weeks compared to the six weeks that the previous version of the methodology provided.

The site displays the time to consider a petition in the range for each form, depending on when the USCIS received the form. The lower interval of the range indicates the time needed to complete the 50% of cases, and the upper interval of the range indicates the 93% of cases.

Applicants can register online account on USCIS and track application review status. If the application is considered longer than the specified time for the upper range of the range, then the applicant may contact the USCIS contact center with the corresponding complaint.

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