My Brain Storm

[extremerecluse 32]

I beg to differ about the banks having personal info...do you not realize at least here in the usa you have to have a drivers license or passport photo, SSN, and addresses etc before they open any kind of account for you????????

I SHOULD know this...as Ive been a bank teller/customer service rep and loan processor for years.... and if your coming to the usa you better be prepared for handing over this kind of info to our banking systems if you didn't know it..

This to me is reminiscent of the dark ages. There should be enough COs working at each consulate on a daily basis to handle all applicants that are in the system and ready for interviews. The bad guys are not being caught due to poor communication among agencies. USCIS should have access to all law enforcement data. The computer system should flag any suspicious applicants. Only those applicants should receive special attention and will be referred to law enforcement. Consular Officers would not have access to this data. Only Dept of Just agencies would have access. If somebody who submits an application does not want it scrutinized, then they should not even apply. When you give discretion to people, you are inherently going to have variations in outcomes. I hope the USCIS director is reading this topic.

[extremerecluse 32]

that would be to easy,and to many people will be out of work,that is why we have so much unemployment, new machines that put people out of work robets, automatic, one company once had 200 hundred employees got new machines computers now only employee 75 people.but i agree some thing has to be done with the uscis. like now the gov wants to cut jobs, then we wait longer for our files to be procressd,

Now is the time to implement this system. It would cut costs and also streamline the process. If you think a human can process information faster than a computer, something is wrong. In my federal government job, we are always told to report fraud, waste or abuse. Well, our govt is conducting a fraud by telling us they are hard at work on our behalf when they are not. They are wasting our tax dollars on an antiquated system that is inefficient at best. The USCIS, like any other govt system, is not accountable to anybody. I should know. I work for the postal service. Our management team does not hold anybody accountable to include themselves; which equates to abuse. I would like to know the revenue that USCIS takes in from fees. Are they self sufficient like the postal service or do they receive federal tax dollars? 9/11 is no excuse to delay our petitions. If the federal govt makes cuts in services, will USCIS be susceptible? I would like to see the daily operations of the service centers. I think visa journey should be allowed to visit these centers and watch the officers adjudicate petitions. I think members should be allowed to testify before congress since they are funding the operation. Transparency needs to be the priority. What is our government afraid of; too many people coming across our borders legally? I am just curious.

[Utha 10]

To the OP:

Hope USCIS read your post so either gives us explaination or adopt your ideal.

Edited February 20, 2011 by Utha

[Daniel&Theary 30]

YOU know that just makes to much sense therefore it would never happen. Seems that common sense and government procedures do not go hand in hand. I do like the idea.

[Krikit 1,164]

Moving from K-1 Process to General Immigration Discussion.

Edited February 20, 2011 by Krikit

[jrmejia 31]

that would be to easy,and to many people will be out of work,that is why we have so much unemployment, new machines that put people out of work robets, automatic, one company once had 200 hundred employees got new machines computers now only employee 75 people.but i agree some thing has to be done with the uscis. like now the gov wants to cut jobs, then we wait longer for our files to be procressd,

That reminds me of the industrial revolution and at the end industrial revolution did more good than harm?

[Abby62 23]

You're comparing Major Automotive companies tooo ummm immigration.. I am someone who has lived, ate and breathed around the big 3 my entire life...automotive industries are in this business to generate a profit..MONEY..the immigration service is for what again?? Rrrigght!!!! The all mighty dollar rules the world...

[Used to be broken 147]

Well if you get an automated system, you don't necessarily get a problem free system, you just get a whole new set of problems to overcome. What seems to be the biggest problem with USCIS and the Consulate system is the lack of a knowledgeable person when an issue arises and a path to correct the issue. Creating more technological barriers might not be the answer, or less people in employed positions to deal with them.

If everything is online when the systems locks up, melts down or there are internet issues processing stops. Not sure that is desirable either. What about when the system "deletes" your entire file? What then, do you start all over?

I do think it is possible for the USCIS to scan and upload the packet and that would cut down on the amount of mailing files anywhere. I also think having Alien files in a central database would help consulates make decisions on questions they have and cut down on delays in certain types of applications.

[rsn 135]

What about when the system "deletes" your entire file? What then, do you start all over?

backups

[Y&E 12]

Because then the make-work-scheme that is the USCIS would destroy jobs rather than creating / retaining them therefore worsening the recession because thousands of USCIS bums on seats would be off those seats and not spending any of their 'hard' earned money. And they say that the US isn't a socialist system... I believe this is why Indianapolis has so many potholes too - so that the local government can have a make-work-scheme filling them in each summer

[extremerecluse 32]

They are already trying to automate parts of the process which can be automated, though they are doing so gradually. Frankly, I don't like the way it's working so far.

I have enough gripes about the PDF forms that artificially restrict how much you can type into a box, and won't let you change the font in order to make it fit. The only option you have is to print the form with the box empty and then fill in that box by hand. Sometimes you have no option other than to write "see attachment" and then provide the information on a separate sheet. It would be difficult to automate this with an online-only process.

This is substantially worse with online forms like the DS-156, which doesn't give you the OPTION of printing the form and filling out any portion of it by hand because the server processes what you typed into a two-dimensional bar code. If you try to write something on the printed form by hand then it wouldn't be included in that bar code, and it wouldn't be scanned into the computers at the consulate. Some consulates are already using forms that are filled out online and submitted electronically. Some of these don't give you the option of creating a file copy or hardcopy, which makes it a little difficult to keep a copy of everything you've submitted, especially when the online form is spread across multiple HTML pages. You have to print the web page before you click "next", and then hope you don't have to go back and revise anything.

The biggest impediment to fully automating the system is that the immigration law gives a lot of discretion to adjudicators, consular officers, and immigration officers. No matter how much you automate the system for getting the information to them, they are still going to spend the same amount of time going over your information to make a decision.

I won't mind if they automate as much as they can, but I'd first like to see them address the flaws in the technology they've already implemented. For pete's sake, they can't even get their online CRIS system to give accurate case status information much of the time, and that system only has to pick one of nine options to display.

This isn't as straightforward as the IRS, where everything boils down to a bunch of numbers on a stack of forms. If you had to submit the same sort of "evidence" to the IRS, and if an IRS officer had the same sort of discretion that an immigration or consular officer had, then I doubt that eFile would exist for tax returns.

In this system the only hands on would occur at the interview. Shift 90% of the USCIS staff to the embassies. Make the evidence required standard. Make it so simple that the dumbest individual could not screw it up. Remember that USCIS is there to catch the bad guys through background checks which can be automated. Nobody would touch your file until the interview stage. That would serve as the firewall. Any red flags would be displayed on the system for the CO to see prior to the interview. Sounds simple; too simple. Pipe dream or not; something needs to change. We at the postal service never let mail sit until the next day. It comes in between 2PM and 9PM and is out the door by 2AM. Why can't the USCIS do the same. Discretion occurs only at the interview using this system. The USCIS can request other information if red flags are found. Please; someone in senior management at USCIS needs to see this. I pray that I am not the first to bring this up and make a doable solution. Am I crazy or is letting files collect dust in some storage room sound crazy? Please enlighten me somebody. I don't want to hear that it can't be done. We sent men to the moon. Again, I am not an IT TECH or systems engineer. Who here has a better idea? Speak up now!!!

[Anh map 2,098]

In this system the only hands on would occur at the interview. Shift 90% of the USCIS staff to the embassies. Make the evidence required standard. Make it so simple that the dumbest individual could not screw it up. Remember that USCIS is there to catch the bad guys through background checks which can be automated. Nobody would touch your file until the interview stage. That would serve as the firewall. Any red flags would be displayed on the system for the CO to see prior to the interview. Sounds simple; too simple. Pipe dream or not; something needs to change. We at the postal service never let mail sit until the next day. It comes in between 2PM and 9PM and is out the door by 2AM. Why can't the USCIS do the same. Discretion occurs only at the interview using this system. The USCIS can request other information if red flags are found. Please; someone in senior management at USCIS needs to see this. I pray that I am not the first to bring this up and make a doable solution. Am I crazy or is letting files collect dust in some storage room sound crazy? Please enlighten me somebody. I don't want to hear that it can't be done. We sent men to the moon. Again, I am not an IT TECH or systems engineer. Who here has a better idea? Speak up now!!!

A couple of thoughts come to mind:

You seem to want to replace people that have jobs processing various applications with consular officers. Is that more CO's or do you want to locate back office staffs across the globe? What career path do these people have?

Now that the Watson computer has won on Jeopardy it can be purchased to process visa applications. Go ahead and ask your Congressperson to fund the acquisition. USCIS answers to Congress. That's where the changes will begin.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

One other problem - you are asking for standardized evidence. That means that every single foreign country in the world that uses their own languages and their own documentation must now conform to US standards on the off chance that one of their citizens will eventually be sponsored as a beneficiary to move to the US. That means all birth certificates - even for countries that technologically do not do this on a regular basis (yes, there are still some) and all marriage certificates, divorce and death documents must now all contain exactly the same information - no more and no less - and organized in such a way that the machine can automatically recognize and 'slot' the necessary information into the correct field. That means all evidence must now be written in English or transcribed into a standardized English format. That will make countries such as Russia and Viet Nam very happy, I'm sure. The real problem is that evidence in the US isn't even standardized - a divorce decree from Georgia looks nothing like a divorce decree from Texas, for example - and I don't see that likelihood ever happening here until you are able to get the 50 different small 'countries' that make up the US federation to forego their state right to be in charge of vital statistic records.

Technology is good in its place but too much of a reliance on technology is just as dangerous as not using it correctly. Yes, USCIS and DOS - two different federal departments, btw - the immigration staff and the Consulate staff don't work for the same departments - could do much better at inter communications and sharing information via technology. They could do a better job at sharing the information with us, but I don't think it would be a good idea at all to remove the human element from the process. As the saying goes, 'To err is human, but to really foul things up takes a computer".

Edited February 20, 2011 by Kathryn41

[rin and john 71]

The arguments against are all horse manure. The process you want to automate is largely in place. Auto filing is available for I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker. However, corporations do a much better job as lobbyists than citizens with foreign relatives.

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=47f2065d85cee010VgnVCM1000000ecd190aRCRD&vgnextchannel=9059d9808bcbd010VgnVCM100000d1f1d6a1RCRD

[Julie y Pat 67]

I'm sure we could just use computer technology to increase the size of the US embassies throughout the world to accommodate the additional offices and staffing requirements that would be needed.