New York Times article on USCIS

[Divine Mercy 0]

I don't have a link to this article (I'm typing it out). It was in the Tuesday, November 27 issue of the New York Times.. Editorials/Letters section page A30. Author unknown (to me).

The Citizenship Surge

About the only point of agreement on immigration in this country is that newcomers who play by the rules - fill out their forms, pay their fees and wait their turn - are welcome. But that great American dogma is being sorely tested by the inability of the federal government's feeble citizenship agency to deal with a flood of applications that arose this summer.

The agency, Citizenship and Immigration Services, is telling legal immigrants that applications for citizenship and for residence visas filed after June 1 will take about 16 - 18 months to process. The agency was utterly unprepared for the surge, and so tens of thousands of Americans-in-waiting will have to keep on waiting. Many, gallingly, may have to sit out next November's election, even though that civic act was what prompted many of them to apply in the first place.

This was not supposed to happen. The director of Citizenship and Immigration Services, Emilio Gonzalez, promised this summer that he era of bad, slow service was over. He said a whopping increase in fees that took effect July 30 - an average of about 66 percent across the board, with naturalization now costing $675 per person, up from $400 - was about to make his agency fit for the 21st century. Speaking to newly naturalized immigrants, Mr. Gonzalez promised immediate results.

One immediate result was entirely predictable: people rushed to get their paperwork in. The agency received nearly 2.5 million naturalization petitions and visa applications in July and August, more than double from those months last year. But Mr. Gonzalez's spokesman, Bill Wright, told Julia Preston in Friday's Times: "We certainly were surprised by such an immediate increase." Surprised and swamped. The agency's processing center in Vermont is only now acknowledging naturalization petitions that came in by July 30.

It's telling that we need to explain that this backlog is distinct from other backlogs that plague the citizenship agency. This is not the visa overload that causes people in some countries, like the Philippines and Mexico, to wait decades to enter legally. Those backlogs are caused by visa quotas that no one has seen fit to adjust. Nor are they the chronic delays in conducting criminal background checks that have kept thousands of immigrants in limbo for months, even years.

Many of those immigrants have given up on the agency and sought redress in the courts. There has been a spate of decisions by judges who found that delays by the Federal Bureau of Investigation are unreasonable - three years is too long to wait to have the government decide if you are a criminal - and have ordered the bureaucracy to do its job. Judge Nathaniel Gorton of the Federal District Court in Boston became so fed up last month with a delayed background check that he simply gave a plaintiff, Ahmed Dayisty, the oath of citizenship.

It should never have come to that. The country should summon the will, the resources and the basic administrative competence to carry out one of its most vital functions, the making of ne w citizens. Mr. Gonzalez's agency says that the new revenue will allow it to eventually add 1,500 employees to its work force, an increase of about 10 percent, and that staff members have volunteered to work overtime to handle the latest backlog.

The agency has made such vows before, and the voluntarism doesn't cut it. This is not a benefit car wash or a canned-food drive. Turning immigrants into citizens demands better than platitudes and broken promises.

[Enlighten one :) 5]

Can i mention that the immigration service was not prepared for or failed to predict the increase because of on line dating and relationship. The Internet has given people a new resource of people to reach out to. i did not meet my husband on line, but we did use the venue to communicate. had we not had the resource, i doubt we would have pursued this further.

[Divine Mercy 0]

Can i mention that the immigration service was not prepared for or failed to predict the increase because of on line dating and relationship. The Internet has given people a new resource of people to reach out to. i did not meet my husband on line, but we did use the venue to communicate. had we not had the resource, i doubt we would have pursued this further.

There certainly is a global dating pool now huh? Brings new meaning to the girl next door. How about the girl in the next IM window. We met online. Can you believe people still have the audacity to ask if we ever met in "real life"? I say no, not yet, he uploaded the baby and emailed him to me. Took a while to download though, I don't recommend it. Back to your point, that's very true. I wonder if there are stats on how many marriages began in a chat room/date site/forum etc. I would venture to guess it's more and more every year. That has to effect USCIS at least a little bit if not a lot.

[Divine Mercy 0]

Can i mention that the immigration service was not prepared for or failed to predict the increase because of on line dating and relationship. The Internet has given people a new resource of people to reach out to. i did not meet my husband on line, but we did use the venue to communicate. had we not had the resource, i doubt we would have pursued this further.

There certainly is a global dating pool now huh? Brings new meaning to the girl next door. How about the girl in the next IM window. We met online. Can you believe people still have the audacity to ask if we ever met in "real life"? I say no, not yet, he uploaded the baby and emailed him to me. Took a while to download though, I don't recommend it. Back to your point, that's very true. I wonder if there are stats on how many marriages began in a chat room/date site/forum etc. I would venture to guess it's more and more every year. That has to effect USCIS at least a little bit if not a lot.

Also, if I lived in Boston that Judge would have my vote.. and maybe a bouquet of flowers too. He is part of that "Government for the people, by the people...." The USCIS.. not so much. At least the New York Times put it out there for the world to see how messed up that agency is.

[edp333 9]

IMHO, the Internet has increased the number of K and I-130 visas for the past 4 years. To announce a 60% increase in prices and not expect a huge increase to beat the fees is just plain idiocracy. Even a store manager could have predicted an increase.

Maybe Gonzalez needs to hire Greenspan or even someone who can strategicly plan 6 months ahead, let alone 5 to 15 years like corporate upper-management does. But, we are talking government here. Rant over.

[ding 1]

Not good.

[Zee Bee 61]

This should come as no surprise to them. Increasing fees upwards of 50% and not expecting a huge increase in petitions is about as dumb as anything. Why don't they have the means in place to deal with it instead of saying "Ooops, sorry, we expected an increase but this is way beyond what we can handle. And by the way, processing times are now increasing exponentially". That doesn't cut it.

Bravo to the NY Times for the article. USCIS needs to have a fire lit under their asses.

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

So now instead of waiting 6 months it could be 16-18 months since I filed after June 1st? Yikes!

[Divine Mercy 0]

So now instead of waiting 6 months it could be 16-18 months since I filed after June 1st? Yikes!

We all thought that when MyHoney posted the announcement a few days ago but no. This doesn't apply to non immigrant visas. That time increase applies to people already here and applying for naturalization. Don't worry.

[KimandRuss 0]

Thank you for taking the time to post this.

Like many here in the states, I never knew the immigration process until I was faced with it myself. As stated...how do you not know that the increase in fines would inundate the process? It's common sense. Not to mention how many more people are meeting via the Internet. I'm embarrassed for my country and worried about where my tax dollars are going.

I would imagine that most people don't even know, or maybe don't even care, about the process itself but in a place where everyone is now complaining daily about illegal immigration who can blame them when the process is as it is?

I can't even file for my K1 until April (when my divorce is final) and can only hope things will have changed by then. I will make sure my voice is heard now, though. Because wrong ..is wrong.

Best of luck to all of you for an expidited process and years of bliss.

[rebeccajo 14]

The Times does a lot of reporting on immigration issues. Check out their archives.

[Urge To Race 2]

:lol:

That is a good one. Verizon Fios might shorten the 9 months a bit?

There certainly is a global dating pool now huh? Brings new meaning to the girl next door. How about the girl in the next IM window. We met online. Can you believe people still have the audacity to ask if we ever met in "real life"? I say no, not yet, he uploaded the baby and emailed him to me. Took a while to download though, I don't recommend it. Back to your point, that's very true. I wonder if there are stats on how many marriages began in a chat room/date site/forum etc. I would venture to guess it's more and more every year. That has to effect USCIS at least a little bit if not a lot.

Ed, well, USCIS is not the best at planning. Corporate America misses forecasts too, especially when it comes to demand. Still BCG might have been able to them some.

IMHO, the Internet has increased the number of K and I-130 visas for the past 4 years. To announce a 60% increase in prices and not expect a huge increase to beat the fees is just plain idiocracy. Even a store manager could have predicted an increase.

Maybe Gonzalez needs to hire Greenspan or even someone who can strategicly plan 6 months ahead, let alone 5 to 15 years like corporate upper-management does. But, we are talking government here. Rant over.