Number of cases processed hit new high!

[Naterson 129]

39 minutes ago, AndiB said:

I'm always confused when people say it's removed unless they mean another. I know a member was saying it was removed a month or two ago only for it to be linked in a recent report/news 🤣

Agreed, I don't know the location where it was removed, but they really are a far cry from reaching that goal. At the current rate they will get there, just not by October.

[AndiB 677]

19 minutes ago, Naterson said:

Agreed, I don't know the location where it was removed, but they really are a far cry from reaching that goal. At the current rate they will get there, just not by October.

Agreed, I guess regardless of moved or not, they're not gonna make it

[Naterson 129]

1 hour ago, AndiB said:

Agreed, I guess regardless of moved or not, they're not gonna make it

My hope is that by October they're down to 12-13 months. I think that would be pretty good progress in cutting down the backlog.

[FromMexico W/Love 244]

7 minutes ago, Naterson said:

My hope is that by October they're down to 12-13 months. I think that would be pretty good progress in cutting down the backlog.

They are at 13 months right now though, for Feb 2023 cases. 

[Naterson 129]

18 minutes ago, FromMexico W/Love said:

They are at 13 months right now though, for Feb 2023 cases. 

Haven't they only done expedites so far in February?

[FromMexico W/Love 244]

13 minutes ago, Naterson said:

Haven't they only done expedites so far in February?

I'm talking about February 2023 filers, so brand new I-129f cases will be waiting ~13 months at current processing speeds. 

[Naterson 129]

1 minute ago, FromMexico W/Love said:

I'm talking about February 2023 filers, so brand new I-129f cases will be waiting ~13 months at current processing speeds. 

Oh ok, got it. I was getting excited that maybe we were already further ahead than I thought.

[KonBrian 1]

17 hours ago, ChiuA said:

Well we decided to take for not heavy stuff (Like I am a massive anime figure collector ) Hermes because they go off weight which they aren't super heavy, and for the heavy stuff DHL. Though Hermes so far never had ANY bad experiece, nor any of my friends did, and it always arrived on time, on DHL I always have delays lol... It comes down to how heavy ur stuff is and all that, but I as example due my collection fully already planned to waste around 1000 euros to ship all my stuff *cries in pain of being a collector) I think USPS here could work too, we didn't check their prices because IMO they are usually more expensive, but might be worth to look into? Just from personal experience from shipping figures I didn't even wanna bother looking into it but maybe I should have lol .. Q Q Hope I was able to help a bit!

Thank you so much for the info! Yeah it's definitely a very expensive process but I guess it's good expensive in our case 😅

[meladee 160]

The 6 month goal originated in House Report 116-458:

Quote

Processing Times.--USCIS is directed to prioritize the timely processing of citizenship and other applications, with a goal of adjudicating all requests within six months of submission. Further, if USCIS publishes a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking or Final Rule that proposes or adopts any amendment to 8 C.F.R. Sec.  103.7(c)(3-5) that would impact fee levels, USCIS shall include the following information in its associated publications in the Federal Register:
         (1) a detailed description of steps the agency will take to reduce all average processing times to fewer than six months within one year of publication; and
         (2) an analysis of the amount of discretionary funding needed, if any, to enable USCIS to limit fees to rates that do not exceed appropriate inflation rates.

That would have come from the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security. Below are the current members of that subcommittee (the members who were there when that passage was written are in bold). If any of these are your representative, I would recommend contacting them -- they should have a particular interest in USCIS falling short of the requirements their subcomittee set forth.

•     David Joyce, Ohio, Chair
•     Henry Cuellar, Texas, Ranking Member
•     John Rutherford, Florida
•     Andy Harris, Maryland
•     Dan Newhouse, Washington
•     Ashley Hinson, Iowa
•     Michael Cloud, Texas
•     Michael Guest, Mississippi
•     Rosa DeLauro, Connecticut
•     Lauren Underwood, Illinois
•     Ed Case, Hawaii
•     David Trone, Maryland

[Naterson 129]

28 minutes ago, meladee said:

The 6 month goal originated in House Report 116-458:

That would have come from the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security. Below are the current members of that subcommittee (the members who were there when that passage was written are in bold). If any of these are your representative, I would recommend contacting them -- they should have a particular interest in USCIS falling short of the requirements their subcomittee set forth.

•     David Joyce, Ohio, Chair
•     Henry Cuellar, Texas, Ranking Member
•     John Rutherford, Florida
•     Andy Harris, Maryland
•     Dan Newhouse, Washington
•     Ashley Hinson, Iowa
•     Michael Cloud, Texas
•     Michael Guest, Mississippi
•     Rosa DeLauro, Connecticut
•     Lauren Underwood, Illinois
•     Ed Case, Hawaii
•     David Trone, Maryland

So it's less of a goal and more of a mandate from Congress, that's good to know.

Thank you for sharing.

[meladee 160]

I've gone deeper into the rabbit hole and it's not quite as rosy -- in the 2022 report (House Report 117-87) they changed the first point to:

Quote

          (1) a detailed plan for reducing the aggregate median processing time for all applications at least 25 percent by not later than one year from the date of publication of the notice and each year thereafter until median processing times are fewer than six months; and

So while we should see reductions, it does feel like 6 months is off the table. Also, because it's based on the median that might be why we're seeing so many get left behind, they only care about that 50% mark. I don't expect much change in this in the short term, the 2023 report basically says to keep doing what they said in 2022.

[New Romantics 188]

Didn't someone post here a few days ago that their budget and workforce almost doubled? Shouldn't that help?

[Naterson 129]

46 minutes ago, New Romantics said:

Didn't someone post here a few days ago that their budget and workforce almost doubled? Shouldn't that help?

They're definitely improving, even if the 6 month thing is off the table for now.

[meladee 160]

On 2/27/2023 at 8:15 PM, FromMexico W/Love said:

I found this document and it sheds some light as to why we are probably seeing a bump in productivity in processing. USCIS has ~1,400 more full time equivalent employees, and ~1,700 more overall employees in FY2023 compared to FY2022. 

 

https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/reports/U.S._Citizenship_and_Immigration_Services’_Budget_Overview_Document_for Fiscal_Year_2023.pdf 

Yeah the above post by @FromMexico W/Love is what sent me looking for this info! What I vaguely understand from the process is that this is USCIS' Congressional Justification for the budget they were requesting, but not what the committee actuall accepted for the appropriations bill.

Appropriation, fiscal year 2022.......................      $389,504,000
Budget request, fiscal year 2023......................       903,622,000
Recommended in the bill...............................       653,293,000
Bill compared with:
    Appropriation, fiscal year 2022...................      +263,789,000
    Budget request, fiscal year 2023..................      -250,329,000

So the subcommittee put forward -$250MM vs what USCIS asked for, but it's still +$263MM vs the previous year. And that decrease is mostly in hiring, with the reasoning "... because the budget request assumes an unrealistic hiring strategy for asylum-related operations, the recommendation reduces the Application Processing PPA by $229,336,000 below the request..." Still +$215MM over last year, but the emphasis seems to be on asylum application processing.

[ChiuA 108]

I think with the current speed and information we can most likely expect 12 months at most, i honestly don't see less than that. Example I am an october 2022 filler, I am assuming we probably get approved by November mid or End December, before that no way. If you think about it they will prolly start Feb here next week or a bit later, which is by then April, so they're behind 2 months to make it 12 months waiting time. They need a month where is not a lot going on, and they can do it quickly to make it so October gets an answer on October, November on November and so on.. So honestly 13 seems most realistic right now, since most people did get approved withhin 13 months, but 12 is cutting it tight, below that I kinda don't see it happening.

 

Even if they hired more staff, that staff has to be trained as well, and be shadowed over for around 6 months, so honestly the next update about the speed etc is probably going to be after may when we see more of an idea what the times look like, what I think...Of course I would LOVE to see a faster speed for everyone, but realistic speaking and looking at the amazing chart made, it is tough to hit under 12 months 😕 

 

But USCIS is doing the right thing as of now, so let's hope they KEEP improving!  

Edited March 13, 2023 by ChiuA