Memo from My Lawyer Regarding 485 Backlog in TSC

A

austingcwaiter

Registered Users (C)
Hi all,
I am new user to this forum, working in Austin.

PD 6/00
ND 11/01
FP 4/03

Was suprised to receive a memo from my lawyer this afternoon regarding TSC backlog. Not much news but some of the things he wrote where pretty intresting! Come to your own conclusions on this.. My lawyer is pretty reputed, and i known he is not the one to throw BS around...

Here it goes

You are receiving this memorandum because you have an employment-based adjustment of status (I-485) application pending at the US Citizenship & Immigration Services (US CIS) Texas Service Center. At this time, the TSC is processing I-485 cases received on or before January 2, 2001.

Saturday, August 23, 2003, the State Bar of Texas Committee on Laws Relating to Immigration & Nationality met with the Director of the Texas Service Center. We discussed the extreme hardship that her office is causing families who are waiting for their adjustment of status cases to be adjudicated. We have been complaining about this extraordinary delay for the past three years. The Director promised that they have a plan to reduce the backlog of these petitions, and indicated that we should see some improvements soon.

Mr. Eduardo Aguirre, the new Director of the Citizenship & Immigration Services has publicly stated that the goal of his agency is to reduce backlogs of all types of petitions and applications to under six months. Mr. Aguirre did indicate that it will take several years for them to reach this goal. Please see the entire article by Shawn Zeller included with this memo.

We understand that it is frustrating to wait for a decision on our case, and we appreciate your patience as we wait for the TSC to process our case. Please notify us of any changes in mailing or email addresses or telephone numbers. If you have any questions, we encourage you to contact us by email.
 
We got that too..

I guess we both are with same lawyer. He didn't send any information from last 2 1/2 years. Good to see something is going on.
 
austingcwaiter,

Can you tell me who your attorney is? I might be in the market for a new immig. attorney soon.

Thanks for your help.
 
Thanks austingcwaiter for sharing this.

Feels better to know that TSC has been specifically made aware of the hardships we endure, and hope that TSC actually makes an effort for backlogged AOS cases.

This attorney seems to be a good one too..
 
Thank you AustinGCWaiter!

Looking at it in a positive sense, it is pretty encouraging. Your Lawyer seems to have some sense of responsibility towards his clients. Not many Lawyers are like this. As soon as you pay his fees, he moves to the next case ( you can comapre this with any profession you may think of.. I will leave it upto you).. Anyway, bottom line is TSC is something!! Keep your fingers crossed and wait for the miracle to happen!!

If you are happy with your lawyer, please share the name of his firm.. Atleast we can recommend to those who need.

Good luck to all those who are waiting for their approvals!!

Kamal
 
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unable to digest.

Thanks for sharing the news... But I am unable to digest it completely. May be because I have not seen anything positive from TSC for a long long time. I would be more happy if I can see some improvement in next couple of months.
 
> The Director promised that they have a plan to reduce the backlog of these petitions,

What is a specific plan of the Director ?

> and indicated that we should see some improvements soon.

When exactly does "soon" mean ?
If the TSC has a plan, why we can not see any improvements right now ?

Can you believe the Director's promise without any specific items ?
 
Our lawyer name is Paul Parsons in Austin, TX.
I know some users asked about Shawn Zeller's article. I am doing cut and paste that email.

August 5, 2003
Immigration Services chief tackles benefits backlog

By Shawn Zeller
szeller@govexec.com

Eduardo Aguirre, director of the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services, says that the "day of reckoning" has arrived, and that he's taken the first steps toward reducing a massive and long-standing backlog of immigration benefits applications.

The citizenship bureau is composed of former immigration benefits adjudicators of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. The INS was disbanded and incorporated into the Homeland Security Department earlier this year.

In an interview with Government Executive, Aguirre said research the agency is now conducting will eventually increase its efficiency through new information technology investments, while significantly reducing wait times and application backlogs for immigration benefits, such as permanent residency and naturalization.

Still, Aguirre acknowledged that the INS' longstanding technology woes continue to hold back his new bureau, one of three bureaus in the Homeland Security Department where former INS employees now work. The other two-the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection and the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement-are charged with enforcement of immigration laws at the border and in the interior of the United States.

"We have a long, long way to go before we get to the level of technology that we need to be able to function as a world class operation," said Aguirre, a former executive with Bank of America who was confirmed as head of the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services by the Senate in June. "We are having to do more manual work than we should. Much of the technology we have right now is several generations behind what the state-of-the-art is in the commercial world."

And Aguirre acknowledged that heightened security concerns in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks have increased backlogs to the point where applicants for U.S. citizenship now wait a year or more for a response from the bureau. In some parts of the country, wait times exceed two years. And adjudicators continue to scrutinize applications closely. The Homeland Security Department has denied 11 percent more visa and green card applications this year than the INS did last year, according to a report in the Chicago Lawyer. The number of applications approved by DHS dropped 22 percent in 2003, leaving 37 percent more applications pending this year than last. More than 7 million people filed applications in each year.

As acting director, Aguirre rolled out new electronic filing for certain immigration benefits applications in May, and also began to allow immigrants to schedule appointments with immigration adjudicators online as a means of reducing huge lines that continue to form outside the bureau's offices.

Aguirre said that the agency is now researching information technology systems that will reduce processing times. To do so, Aguirre is relying on a $500 million infusion of congressionally appropriated funding.

But the citizenship bureau continues to rely for its administrative support on former INS managers now stationed in the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. That situation has led to some concern among agency employees that Aguirre may not receive first priority as the two bureaus set up new financial management, personnel and information technology systems. Aguirre said that for now his needs are being addressed. But he added that the Homeland Security Department is "still working our way through the shared services aspect to make sure the optimum [arrangement] has been established. Now is that situation ideal? I don't know if we've found the ideal set-up yet."

Aguirre said that his main priority is to reach the goal-set by President Bush-to reduce wait times on immigration benefit applications to no more than 6 months by the end of 2006. "Just like these backlogs didn't grow overnight, we can't solve it overnight, but we are going to solve it," Aguirre said.
 
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