USCIS applications seem to be taking longer now and here's why!

[PrincyE 87]

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/citizenship-now/uscis-applications-longer-article-1.3411537

 

Anyone who is still waiting this is very informational 😊

Edited August 18, 2017 by PrincyE

[RJandHamid 1,133]

I figured it had something to do with increased demand and lack of staff. Hopefully they will get around to hiring and training new staff so that we can start to see processing times go down a bit.

 

Although historically, steps like NOA2 have taken 4+ months or longer (for K-1 visas at least). Looking at timelines from 2014-2015, the processing times are similar to current day. It it really interesting how in summer and fall of 2016, NOA2 was being processed in as little as 4 weeks! While I don't think USCIS will go back to processing that quickly anytime soon, what we all hope for is a more clear and efficient process. People would be less upset about having to wait if they could see progress being made (hey USCIS fix the online case status tracker please!) and not being left behind in the dark as they see cases 2 months ahead of theirs being approved. 

[DILAW 94]

The article you posted is from a source I don't fully trust.  Plus it says the number of applications increased and although that might be true, with Trump in office I can't imagine the number of applicants increased.  There was an article from the Washington post I think months ago explaining an executive order Trump signed which makes the process slower by giving the agency more power to slow the immigration process.  Not just the USCIS but also gives the embassies around the World the power to slow the process down. 

Saying the number of of applicants increased and they are not staffed for it is a lousy excuse in my opinion.  I clicked on the main page of the newspaper site and they had an overweight lady on the main page and some rapper getting arrested for doing a stunt on a motorcycle......I wouldn't trust such a news website

[gypsyqueen 103]

7 minutes ago, DILAW said:

There was an article from the Washington post I think months ago explaining an executive order Trump signed which makes the process slower by giving the agency more power to slow the immigration process.

That executive order only applies to tourists, business travelers and other short term visas. With that being said, I still agree that this major slowdown to the immigration process is unreasonable, considering we pay fees and they already increased it last year.

[DILAW 94]

6 minutes ago, gypsyqueen said:

That executive order only applies to tourists, business travelers and other short term visas. With that being said, I still agree that this major slowdown to the immigration process is unreasonable, considering we pay fees and they already increased it last year.

I want to see the figures of increase.  Some people are assuming the US Government is drowning in all the fee money from these applicants.  I know my congresswoman's immigration clerk told me a number of individuals who used to work have quit their jobs because they don't support/agree with the administration after Trump and things are moving slow.  She said almost all her contacts no longer active after Trump.

[gypsyqueen 103]

@DILAW if that's the case, no wonder why there's a backlog.

[IcezMan_IcezLady 582]

The number of applications have increaed, I bet. Because those who thought they are legal here and didn't need the GC to do anything are now applying due to the new rules. Lots of people who hadn't naturalized or felt they didn't need it and now doing so because you can never know what kind of new immigration policy may be coming out soon.

So i will definitely believe that more and more people are applying just to  secure their status.

 

[geowrian 22,337]

Actual statistics from USCIS for reference:

https://www.uscis.gov/tools/reports-studies/immigration-forms-data

[LionessDeon 2,060]

49 minutes ago, DILAW said:

The article you posted is from a source I don't fully trust.  Plus it says the number of applications increased and although that might be true, with Trump in office I can't imagine the number of applicants increased.  There was an article from the Washington post I think months ago explaining an executive order Trump signed which makes the process slower by giving the agency more power to slow the immigration process.  Not just the USCIS but also gives the embassies around the World the power to slow the process down. 

Saying the number of of applicants increased and they are not staffed for it is a lousy excuse in my opinion.  I clicked on the main page of the newspaper site and they had an overweight lady on the main page and some rapper getting arrested for doing a stunt on a motorcycle......I wouldn't trust such a news website

???

I clicked on the main page and saw all kinds of articles of various subjects.  

[NikLR 13,227]

~~moved to US Immigration News and discussion.  Topic is not K1 specific~~

[Going through 5,671]

6 hours ago, IcezMan_IcezLady said:

The number of applications have increaed, I bet. Because those who thought they are legal here and didn't need the GC to do anything are now applying due to the new rules. Lots of people who hadn't naturalized or felt they didn't need it and now doing so because you can never know what kind of new immigration policy may be coming out soon.

So i will definitely believe that more and more people are applying just to  secure their status.

 

I agree with everything you said above.  Also, I believe a lot of long-time GC holders are applying for Naturalization now as well because of the new administration in the White House.  It's part of the reason I finally did it, instead of just renewing my GC like I'd originally planned.

[JohnnyintheUSA 34]

7 hours ago, DILAW said:

I want to see the figures of increase.  Some people are assuming the US Government is drowning in all the fee money from these applicants.  I know my congresswoman's immigration clerk told me a number of individuals who used to work have quit their jobs because they don't support/agree with the administration after Trump and things are moving slow.  She said almost all her contacts no longer active after Trump.

Not so sure about that! While I could agree that many (being government workers) are anti Trump/ republican it is difficult to accept they would give up a government job!  It's kind of like gold. 

[Going through 5,671]

10 minutes ago, JohnnyintheUSA said:

number of individuals who used to work have quit their jobs because they don't support/agree with the administration after Trump and things are moving slow.

I don't know if I would necessarily take her word for it.  It makes no sense, at least to me, that a number of people would quit their jobs and lose the means to support themselves because of who was in the White House over the next 4 years only?  I mean, if they worked AT the White House, or directly reported to him in some way, I would get it...

[Scandi 4,166]

1 hour ago, JohnnyintheUSA said:

Not so sure about that! While I could agree that many (being government workers) are anti Trump/ republican it is difficult to accept they would give up a government job!  It's kind of like gold. 

I was thinking the same. They may say what they want about Trump but I highly doubt that they would give up a government job because of him being the president.

[spottymax 45]

10 hours ago, geowrian said:

Actual statistics from USCIS for reference:

https://www.uscis.gov/tools/reports-studies/immigration-forms-data

I can't speak for other applications, but I've been using this data to track naturalization data and far as that is concerned, the USCIS hardly processed any applications in the first quarter of this fiscal year (Oct to Dec 2016).  The previous quarter (July to September) they processed over 250,000 applications; the next quarter it was 130,000.