Some good information from MurthyDotCom. Hope it will be useful to some one.
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1. Reasons for Delays in Service Center Processing Times
Reasons for Delays in Service Center Processing Times Users of our various Murthy services frequently ask us why the Service Centers take so long to process most immigration cases. In our April 11, 2003 article, Murthy Takes Action: Seeking Funding for TSC, we reported on efforts of The Law Office of Sheela Murthy to have funding made available to the Texas Service Center to expedite processing. We gratefully acknowledge the many eMails we received in response to that article. Our entire staff and team were moved by your kind words of appreciation. With your help and support, we hope to continue in similar efforts that benefit immigrants. You are a significant part of what makes the United States great. To help MurthyDotCom and MurthyBulletin readers understand how the processing system at the Service Centers works, we have summarized the various practical and legal considerations that come into play resulting in processing delays. Mr. William R. Yates, the Acting Associate Director of BCIS Operations, outlined some of the causes for delays at a March 29, 2003 meeting attended by several attorneys from The Law Office of Sheela Murthy. Financial Considerations In order to adjudicate cases, the Service Centers need financial resources (money!) to hire and retain employees, maintain and develop technology, and cover other normal business expenses. These Service Centers obtain funding as allocated by the U.S. Congress. Of course, all the fees that are paid by the petitioners, beneficiaries, and applicants for the various immigration benefits do not go directly to the Service Centers but, instead, go into the U.S. Treasury. Ultimately, the funds are allocated among the various departments, agencies and other requirements as determined by Congress based on need, national security, and various other criteria. Their perception of how much is required for each agency is based on both objective and subjective principles. In addition to the adjudications functions, the enforcement functions have also been paid largely out of the revenues generated by the filing fees. There is a push now to change this financial structure so that adjudications and enforcement are no longer in the same department. However, there is a strong likelihood that some of the funding obtained for adjudicative functions ultimately will be used towards enforcement functions. The BCIS also faced an unusual monetary loss this year. As regular readers will recall, the application fees were reduced for approximately one month from late January 2003 until late February 2003. This reduction was caused by an oversight in the Homeland Security Act that eliminated the requirement that refugee and asylee fees be included in the application fees for most immigration applications. In that month, the BCIS lost approximately $30 million for the refugee and asylee programs, a loss that will likely be felt in those two programs for years to come. Deadline Cases as Mandated by Law This lack of financial resources translates into the fact that the Service Centers cannot hire as many immigration examiners as needed to adjudicate the various petitions or applications. However, Congress may occasionally, without providing additional funding, mandate that a certain type of case be processed within a specified timeframe. Sometimes special programs require action by set deadlines. A recent example was the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program that delayed processing for all other cases at the Service Centers. Deadlines of Service Centers Alternatively, BCIS headquarters may declare that a particular "product line" must be processed as a priority. We have seen instances in which the Service Centers require that L-1 petitions be processed, generally, within 30 days, which then necessitates that other petitions go neglected if the Service Center is already short staffed. To meet these particular deadlines without the aid of additional funding, the Service Centers must reassign adjudicators to complete the task. Obviously, this removes adjudicators, at least temporarily, from cases they are trained for and were originally assigned to handle. As a result, the processing times for the targeted service will be met to the detriment of other immigration services that suffer further backlogs in processing times. Effects of Security Checks on an Already Overburdened Staff In addition, at least 25% of the adjudicators who were attending to the various adjudication functions were reassigned to process background checks and/or NSEERS for several months of this year, through April 2002. The NSEERS special registration program should have been a part of the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). However, BCIS is currently responsible for running this program, since ICE was not legally created until March 1, 2003, but the law has required registration of certain nationals since earlier this year. Further, background security checks are an enforcement function performed in connection with benefits applications and petitions. It is an example of the connection between enforcement and benefits. However, the process is run by the BCIS and costs the Bureau approximately $10 million a month to complete. This $120 million per year was never calculated into the fees that are currently charged to those seeking immigration benefits. As a result, the money has to be "borrowed" from the basic, essential role of the BCIS – adjudications. The shortfall means additional delays since fewer employees can be used to adjudicate cases. As a result, the adjudications workforce was effectively cut by at least 25% during these periods. Though some of these adjudicators have returned to their original duties, many more are still carrying out the security tasks that are better suited to another Bureau. H1B Premium Processing Program As regular MurthyDotCom and MurthyBulletin readers are aware, there is expedited, "premium" processing for certain nonimmigrant, employment-based petitions, including H1B and L-1 petitions. The price for this premium service is an additional filing fee of $1000. Many have hoped that I-140s and other petitions would soon enjoy the same option. This is unlikely, according to Bill Yates. We understand that there have been many negatives associated with the current premium processing program, including a finding that the program has caused a slowdown in processing of non-premium cases. Accordingly, it is unlikely that I-140s will be premium processed in the near future. However, should such a program ever be approved, it most likely will begin with I-140s for nurses rather than for all categories. Inability to Institute Electronic Processing Although technology is available to help with faster processing, the Service Centers have not been able to obtain permission or funding for the use of technology. Hope glimmers in the offing, however. One program that may start as early as this year is electronic processing. This would permit the filing of certain applications online. It is expected that I-90s and I-765s will be the first applications to benefit from electronic processing. We will continue to update readers on this exciting possibility as more information is released. Some Good News! Though much of the situation appears bleak, there may be help with staffing in the near future. The Vermont Service Center has reported that they will have an additional 100 adjudicators onboard in the next few months. These examiners will replace those who have been lost to security functions. Most other Service Centers are also expected to obtain additional examiners to help process petitions and applications. On the other hand, it has been our experience that new adjudicators tend to issue more Requests for Evidence (RFE) than the more experienced adjudicators while they are still learning and understanding complex immigration laws. Therefore, while the processing times may improve, that may come with the inconvenience of more RFEs, resulting in additional delays, especially during the first few months of training for new immigration examiners. What We Can and Should All Do The first thing to remember, even if the BCIS informs you that the case is taking longer to process than originally expected, is that expressing anger or frustration at the BCIS will not change the processing time. We all need to work together to organize grassroots campaigns that ask Congress for additional funding for the immigration services at BCIS. As mentioned, The Law Office of Sheela Murthy has been doing just that. We have been contacted and are in touch with some Congressional aides who plan to help us. We realize, however, that this is a slow, uphill battle. There are those in our Office who are taking an active part in lobbying and fighting for the rights of immigrants, and we encourage this since we believe it is the only way this system works. With these efforts, we expect some movement in processing, but there is nothing concrete, yet. Of course, we will keep you informed via the MurthyBulletin and MurthyDotCom. With your help, we can surmount this problem! Although we all understand that money does not solve every problem, it does permit the Service Centers to obtain much-needed resources, human and otherwise, that should result in greater efficiency and better processing times.
