To get a full picture you might want to search this site for the word "freeze" - you'll get quite a bit of hits.
To sum the all up:
1. After it came to public attention that INS had naturalized an active member of a terrorist origanization, INS HQ issued a memo to all local offices and service centers reminding them that adjudicating officers are personally responsible for running appropriate background checks on all applicants.
2. INS local offices went into a paranoid frenzy and stopped issuing pretty much everything for several days - including APs and EADs. 3-4 days later they resumed their adjudications, however most no longer issue same-day EAD/AP and everything goes through IBIS.
3. INS local offices and SCs changed their policy regarding handling G-325A forms( biographies ). Those are filed with I-485s, N400s and asylum applications. Previously, INS requested background informaion based on name/DOB and if no reply had been received from FBI within 3 months, the case was considered a "no-hit" and adjudication was resumed. No longer. Now they actually have to wait until they get "hit"/"no hit" explicitly. Needless to say, neither INS, nor FBI were ready for this and no well-established system existed that allowed for timely information exchange. This resulted in halt of processing of naruralization, AOS and asylum applications at all local offices and SCs. All the time INS HQ was denying any "freeze rumours" and insisted that cases were still being approved, but slower than before.
4. In December 2002 INS HQ reluctantly admitted that there had been a freeze, but re-assured AILA that something is being put in place and adjudications would resume shortly. We are yet to see any progress, although supposedly several I-485s have been recently approved at VSC. There's also a substantial backlog of otherwise adjudicated but not cleared applications.
That's all folks. We'll see how it goes.
