Namecheck delays normally affect only 10% applicants. Expediting namecheck will not reduce processing backlogs.
Gonzalez Address to Congress Immigration Sub-Committee Hearing on Backlog
- Thread starter LolaLi
- Start date
Namecheck delays normally affect only 10% applicants. Expediting namecheck will not reduce processing backlogs.
It may not reduce backlogs, but at least it'll reduce a major source of headaches for all prospective applicants. If it wasn't for the name check, I wouldn't even bother with InfoPass.
I believe the biggest challenge for folks in NYC is the impending backlog. Don't waste time on namecheck etc. since you may not be hit by it in the first place and secondly there is already visibility on this issue in politcal circle. In any case if the processing time is around 2 years then you don't have to worry about namecheck timeframe because almost all apps will have namecheck cleared by the time you get to interview stage after 18 months or so.
waitingforins2
Registered Users (C)
18 months with or without namecheck delay
Hi Guys,
Does This 18 month time period to adjudicate include time for namecheck delay ? If namecheck delay time is say 18 months then would it take 3 years for those unfortunate folks like me who are stuck in namecheck?
I filed in apr 07 and still waiting.
somebody had told me that during election year they speed up the processing. While that maybe true that may not work This time because the naturalized citizens in majority are democrats and I do not think a republican administration will want so many democrat voters in a presidential election year. So be ready for a long wait friends..
Regards
Hi Guys,
Does This 18 month time period to adjudicate include time for namecheck delay ? If namecheck delay time is say 18 months then would it take 3 years for those unfortunate folks like me who are stuck in namecheck?
I filed in apr 07 and still waiting.
somebody had told me that during election year they speed up the processing. While that maybe true that may not work This time because the naturalized citizens in majority are democrats and I do not think a republican administration will want so many democrat voters in a presidential election year. So be ready for a long wait friends..
Regards
Inlineagain
Registered Users (C)
Thanks for the additional 4 links, Huracan.
Most of the points raised here yesterday were brought up in the first two speeches especially the one by Mr Vargas. Whether they will carry much weight with USCIS is another matter. :-(
Most of the points raised here yesterday were brought up in the first two speeches especially the one by Mr Vargas. Whether they will carry much weight with USCIS is another matter. :-(
Namecheck kicks in immediately at the time of FP. So there should not be any additional time involved.
Jackolantern
Registered Users (C)
If that is true, they should upgrade it. This is the 21st century.
This testimony all sounds too familiar..something similar we have seen back in 1998..
http://commdocs.house.gov/committees/judiciary/hju57224.000/hju57224_0.HTM
http://commdocs.house.gov/committees/judiciary/hju57224.000/hju57224_0.HTM
"I have long felt and consistently said that everyone who is eligible to become a United States citizen should take that step, and everyone who applies for citizenship is entitled to have their application processed quickly and with no unnecessary delays. It seems to me a reasonable goal to process citizenship applications within 90 days, especially given new technologies available today."
This was 10 years ago. 10 years later, we have technologies even more advanced than what was available 10 years ago. Then again, 20 years ago, everyone thought that we'd have flying cars by the year 2000. Think back to the intro of the old animated "Transformers" movie..."The year was 2005...". 90 day processing is just wishful thinking. Sure, it can most definitely be done. However, government agencies are all bumbling bureaucracies, and there will always be something to snag the process.
Invention of namecheck?
From testimony of ROSEMARY JENKS before Congressional Subcommittee on Immigration January 17 2008:
'Naturalizing a Known Terrorist
A report by the Office of Internal Audit of the then-INS details how a known terrorist
was naturalized in late 2002...
• The naturalization interview was scheduled and the application approved before results
from the FBI check were received;
• The adjudicator failed to catch a disqualifying violation listed in the National Automated
Inspector Lookout System (NAILS);
• The adjudicator was not properly trained in doing background checks in the Interagency
Border Inspection System (IBIS);
• The INS employee in possession of the terrorist’s A-file failed to forward it to the
adjudicator upon the latter’s request, so the adjudicator created a temporary file instead;
and
• The INS Agent assigned to the Joint Terrorism Task Force failed to report information
about the terrorist to INS.'
Is it that famous Natz case afer which they invented namecheck?
From testimony of ROSEMARY JENKS before Congressional Subcommittee on Immigration January 17 2008:
'Naturalizing a Known Terrorist
A report by the Office of Internal Audit of the then-INS details how a known terrorist
was naturalized in late 2002...
• The naturalization interview was scheduled and the application approved before results
from the FBI check were received;
• The adjudicator failed to catch a disqualifying violation listed in the National Automated
Inspector Lookout System (NAILS);
• The adjudicator was not properly trained in doing background checks in the Interagency
Border Inspection System (IBIS);
• The INS employee in possession of the terrorist’s A-file failed to forward it to the
adjudicator upon the latter’s request, so the adjudicator created a temporary file instead;
and
• The INS Agent assigned to the Joint Terrorism Task Force failed to report information
about the terrorist to INS.'
Is it that famous Natz case afer which they invented namecheck?
It is just causing considerable controversy in my opinion. Well, the point i dont get is that when they increased application fees, they should have very well expected the outcome. Lets assume they didnt. they hired more people as soon as they faced the intensity in order to compansate and started to get benefit from new technology or whatever. Why do they still have to take their ludicrously sweet time to process applications.. I just dont get it. I think we should gather up and write letters to senators before this upcoming election hits.
Inlineagain
Registered Users (C)
There was a short discussion on this on NPR - there's a link to audio clip on this page
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18195349
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18195349
I am not sure whether this case prompted the name check, but I remember that it created some ripples. It's all politics. Out of one bad apple they have screwed up the rest of honest immigrants big time over the past years. If one looks at it with a cold head it was an overreaction. Even if this guy had real ties to terrorism and naturalized he could have been dealt with the same way we deal with FBI or CIA agents who sell information to other countries or any other homegrown terrorists. It's not the end of the world if every once in a while someone gets naturalized that shouldn't have been. We cannot let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
Don't forget that this Rose Mary Jenks belongs to an anti-immigrant group, so it is not unusual that she would like to sensationalize naturalization and exaggerate things a bit against naturalizations.
futureuscitizen
Registered Users (C)
I think you are wrong about that. My namecheck started 6 months before the fingerprints were taken.......
Actually, Vik Pal is right. LolaLi posted a fact sheet a while ago, and it stated that all background checks are initiated at the same time. Just out of curiosity, how did it take you more than 6 months to get your fingerprints?
It will take me almost 6.5 months to get the fingerprints. They are not allowing walk-ins at dallas/ft worth application support centers. The TSC was the slowest center and then the asc clerks at ft worth asc were rude. Its a double whammy. Bad service both ways. Common courtsey and manners were absent.
It is not making sense.
You increase the fees to improve processing times.
And to beat the increased fees/deadline lots of people file.
You should know that that will happen.
Basic forecasting.
And you don't hire anyone to process the increased paperwork.
Now then you say the processing time is doubled!!!!
The purpose of increased fees was to improve the processing times!!!!
If it was private sector you may have been fired.
Hey, we cannot say they are not hiring. They are hiring on some stupid anti-fraud unit that is probably proud of turning out cases like this:
http://www.ice.gov/pi/news/newsreleases/articles/070313elpaso.htm?searchstring=denaturalize
Waste of good taxpayer money if you ask me.
Every day I think more and more that this "forecasting" backog problem is political, as in Republicans want to delay naturalizations and Democrats like to speed them up.
It gets tiring to hear that they will never sacrifice the security checks, and use that as justification on not speeding up processing. The problem is that the security checks add an unbound time to the application processing, as we have seen with name checks. I think they should be smarter than that and either use some random checks instead of checks for everyone, and whenever an application gets stuck on name check it should be reviewed by an experienced IO to determine if the delay is justified or not. If the applicant appears to be low risk I would adjudicate the application instead of waiting forever.
My 2 cents.
http://www.ice.gov/pi/news/newsreleases/articles/070313elpaso.htm?searchstring=denaturalize
Waste of good taxpayer money if you ask me.
Every day I think more and more that this "forecasting" backog problem is political, as in Republicans want to delay naturalizations and Democrats like to speed them up.
It gets tiring to hear that they will never sacrifice the security checks, and use that as justification on not speeding up processing. The problem is that the security checks add an unbound time to the application processing, as we have seen with name checks. I think they should be smarter than that and either use some random checks instead of checks for everyone, and whenever an application gets stuck on name check it should be reviewed by an experienced IO to determine if the delay is justified or not. If the applicant appears to be low risk I would adjudicate the application instead of waiting forever.
My 2 cents.
The USCIS defense has been "yes, we did foresee an increase in applications due to fee increase, but not to the extent that occurred"
However, a combinations of things led to the current processing delays:
1) Applicants trying to beat July 30 fee increase
2) "It's About Time! Citizenship!" campaign to get Hispanics to apply for citizenship(reportedly a major success)
3) Release of I-485 availability numbers by state department in July, causing flood of I-485 and derivative applications, leading to receipting delays of naturalization applications.
Call it a "perfect storm" of sorts, or swiss cheese event ...all above events lined up exactly to cause the current crisis.
Being a large bureaucracy besieged by years of systemic problems , I doubt USCIS could have accurately predicted the number of applications it would receive, let alone react fast enough to ensure they get processed in a timely manner.
On top of it all, USCIS has been faced with an increase of name check lawsuits lately, so what better way to circumvent them by announcing that processing will now take 16-18 months.
However, a combinations of things led to the current processing delays:
1) Applicants trying to beat July 30 fee increase
2) "It's About Time! Citizenship!" campaign to get Hispanics to apply for citizenship(reportedly a major success)
3) Release of I-485 availability numbers by state department in July, causing flood of I-485 and derivative applications, leading to receipting delays of naturalization applications.
Call it a "perfect storm" of sorts, or swiss cheese event ...all above events lined up exactly to cause the current crisis.
Being a large bureaucracy besieged by years of systemic problems , I doubt USCIS could have accurately predicted the number of applications it would receive, let alone react fast enough to ensure they get processed in a timely manner.
On top of it all, USCIS has been faced with an increase of name check lawsuits lately, so what better way to circumvent them by announcing that processing will now take 16-18 months.
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Inlineagain
Registered Users (C)
Elimination of #3 would have made a huge difference though, wouldn't it ?
It makes me suspicious about the timing - it's all turning out to be so convenient ....for some factions who would like to to minimise the risk of too many new citizens voting Democrat. Everything happens for a reason, in my book!
It makes me suspicious about the timing - it's all turning out to be so convenient ....for some factions who would like to to minimise the risk of too many new citizens voting Democrat. Everything happens for a reason, in my book!