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Critics: USCIS Policies Make Immigration Difficult And Dangerous

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Filed: O-2 Visa Country: Sweden
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Critics: USCIS Policies Make Immigration Difficult And Dangerous

 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/stuartanderson/2020/03/23/critics-uscis-policies-make-immigration-difficult-and-dangerous/amp/

 

In the age of coronavirus, policies imposed by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) are making it difficult for businesses, high-skilled professionals and others to file applications and meet deadlines. Attorneys say that although USCIS has made one positive accommodation their clients deserve policies that better take into account the new health and safety realities of doing business under social distancing, remote work and USCIS office closures.

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Filed: Citizen (apr) Country: Taiwan
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"In sum, critics say USCIS can adapt its policies to the new realities of coronavirus – or it can continue its old ways that have made life more difficult and dangerous for attorneys, employers and immigrants."

 

Hogwash.....complete hogwash....imvho

Edited by Lucky Cat

"The US immigration process requires a great deal of knowledge, planning, time, patience, and a significant amount of money.  It is quite a journey!"

- Some old child of the 50's & 60's on his laptop 

 

Senior Master Sergeant, US Air Force- Retired (after 20+ years)- Missile Systems Maintenance & Titan 2 ICBM Launch Crew Duty (200+ Alert tours)

Registered Nurse- Retired- I practiced in the areas of Labor & Delivery, Home Health, Adolescent Psych, & Adult Psych.

IT Professional- Retired- Web Site Design, Hardware Maintenance, Compound Pharmacy Software Trainer, On-site go live support, Database Manager, App Designer.

______________________________________

In summary, it took 13 months for approval of the CR-1.  It took 44 months for approval of the I-751.  It took 4 months for approval of the N-400.   It took 172 days from N-400 application to Oath Ceremony.   It took 6 weeks for Passport, then 7 additional weeks for return of wife's Naturalization Certificate.. 
 

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Specific policies noted:

  1. "A glaring example, attorneys say, is USCIS still does not permit electronic filing for the most commonly used employment-based forms."
    1. This is something they are behind on, but they are moving this direction. It's not so much a matter of USCIS making it hard, it's just a lot of planning and work to move over to an electronic-based system, and they are doing so with the most commonly used forms first.
  2. "Paper-based applications and hard copy checks to pay filing fees are still required for most employment-based petitions. Vic Goel, managing partner of Goel & Anderson, said USCIS has not indicated it will relax or grant leniency on required filing dates and Requests for Evidence (RFE) response dates."
    1. Also complaints about not having an electronic system in place yet.
    2. No changes or exceptions have been granted on response timelines. While I understand the challenges COVID-19 has presented, the timelines in place already are not inappropriately short. If attorneys cannot keep up, I submit that they are being asked to take on more than they can actually handle. #overworkedbutnotoverpaid
    3. The article goes on a few times about how they cannot pay by credit card or ACH for those form types.
  3. USCIS has adjusted signature policies to permit electronic signatures during the emergency. I haven't seen this memo, but it makes sense.
  4. There are complaints about deadlines that won't be met due to the office closures, but no practical examples given. The only example provided was for AOS interviews. However, there is no practical deadline in those cases...they remain eligible (or ineligible) for the benefit whether USCIS takes 1 month or 1 year or longer to adjudicate the I-485.
  5. "The spouses of H-1B visa holders and individuals with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), among others, are likely to miss deadlines to renew Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) if USCIS office closures continue, note attorneys."
    1. Correct - those classes do not get an automatic EAD extension like most (see https://www.uscis.gov/working-united-states/automatic-employment-authorization-document-ead-extension). That said, IIRC (correct me if I'm wrong), those classes are typically adjudicated typically with only a few months delay.
    2. However, this is a complaint about what may happen in the future. USCIS may or may not make changes to the extension policy or other arrangements when that time comes. I think this is jumping the gun a bit...USCIS has not immediately changed policies to address a problem that may or may not actually happen. They have more urgen matters right now.
  6. ABIL wants USCIS to "announce the immediate suspension of all immigration compliance deadlines"
    1. No...that's simply not going to happen and is not reasonable. They want the absolute, most extreme thing USCIS can do. never let a good crisis go to waste.

So...this is aimed at primarily employment-based immigration. The overwhelming main complaint is that USCIS has not provided for electronic filing of documents yet.

 

The main COVID-19 risk is the handling of paper documents...although I'm not sure how much this changes with electronic filing. Presumably most documents will still be paper-based and scanned into the system, so it's not like it's really reducing the amount of hands on paper (except on the USCIS side, which is good but not an argument made in the article).

Edited by geowrian

Timelines:

ROC:

Spoiler

7/27/20: Sent forms to Dallas lockbox, 7/30/20: Received by USCIS, 8/10 NOA1 electronic notification received, 8/1/ NOA1 hard copy received

AOS:

Spoiler

AOS (I-485 + I-131 + I-765):

9/25/17: sent forms to Chicago, 9/27/17: received by USCIS, 10/4/17: NOA1 electronic notification received, 10/10/17: NOA1 hard copy received. Social Security card being issued in married name (3rd attempt!)

10/14/17: Biometrics appointment notice received, 10/25/17: Biometrics

1/2/18: EAD + AP approved (no website update), 1/5/18: EAD + AP mailed, 1/8/18: EAD + AP approval notice hardcopies received, 1/10/18: EAD + AP received

9/5/18: Interview scheduled notice, 10/17/18: Interview

10/24/18: Green card produced notice, 10/25/18: Formal approval, 10/31/18: Green card received

K-1:

Spoiler

I-129F

12/1/16: sent, 12/14/16: NOA1 hard copy received, 3/10/17: RFE (IMB verification), 3/22/17: RFE response received

3/24/17: Approved! , 3/30/17: NOA2 hard copy received

 

NVC

4/6/2017: Received, 4/12/2017: Sent to Riyadh embassy, 4/16/2017: Case received at Riyadh embassy, 4/21/2017: Request case transfer to Manila, approved 4/24/2017

 

K-1

5/1/2017: Case received by Manila (1 week embassy transfer??? Lucky~)

7/13/2017: Interview: APPROVED!!!

7/19/2017: Visa in hand

8/15/2017: POE

 

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Filed: IR-1/CR-1 Visa Country: Scotland
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So they're complaining about the health and safety of the application process... while wanting to import ostensibly temporary workers -- though we all know they won't be temporary -- are these workers then going to violate social distancing, travel to the US, work in an office, etc. Seems just a tad hypocritical to me.

 

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