jabekens

Hi, I'm a March 2022 lurker who just checks all the monthly groups when cases are being processed for some semblance of the whole picture. In talking to some folks at and formerly at USCIS when considering working there (not at a service center though), I've learned a few things about the organization: it strictly follows laws and statutes. One shocking thing a former worker told me is that it is in the books that USCIS must keep documentation for all immigration benefit applications in physical form for 75 years. They have warehouses in the Midwest and elsewhere for storage of all these packets. That's why we still have to mail in everything and answer all these questions manually. The other part is adaptation, modernization, and change within those bounds. That's coming, and from my understanding USCIS is aware of the inefficiencies and there is movement to mitigate the slowing effects of the process as is and reduce duplication of efforts. Unfortunately, those changes won't happen fast enough to help anyone sending in applications even today, but it is happening. The root problem comes from Congress, and you would think fixing the physical storage/75 years lines would be the least controversial part of immigration reform or could be quietly snuck into an omnibus bill or as a rider elsewhere with nobody noticing, but alas, the self-funding of USCIS means it's not a taxpayer problem. It is certainly frustrating. Ironically, I work at DHS (though obviously speaking in a personal capacity here, nothing I say represents DHS or USCIS). Hopefully they'll be able to come out with more transparent operations/dashboards/explanations for how everything is done, that would do a lot for assuaging our questions about opacity or at the least informing us (legal concerns on PII/SPII taken into account).