What about the dependants?
Thank you so much for your efforts, Mr. Khanna.
Just wanted to add my two cents in here:
1. Ideally, we should be pressing that all cases pending for >18 months be adjudicted within a 60 day period. The applicants in question can be asked if they are willing to pay an extra amount to push their applications into the "premium processing" stage, if insufficient funds to hire/train resources is the reason presented. I know it's unfair to have to wait for the entire period instructed in the receipt, and then still have to pay more to get what you probably very well deserve, but I'm sure many of us will pay willingly to get this constant waiting done with!
2. What about dependants' applications that are pending, even though the principal applicant has been approved? Apparently, it is USCIS policy to attempt to join family cases, but it doesn't happen that often, from what I gather. Regardless of when the dependants' applications were filed (as long as it was filed while the 485 was still pending, and the dependant is eligible for derivative benefits), if it has been more than 6 months since the principal applicant got their GC, it should be mandated that the dependant's application be "attached" and adjudicated immediately. I suppose all it requires is administrative work, since this person has no individual qualification, like jobs, to prove... merely a background check, which should not be taking that long, anyway (I could be looking at this in an overly simplistic way - please feel free to correct me if I am).
3. The suggestion about issuance of an interim GC if there is no RFE issued after a year (or even 18 months - some people here also qualify for that!) is a great one, too. It should give us the ability to travel, open businesses, and go back to school without the harassment factor or lengthy explanations at the border/bank/school (and allow us to pay in-state tuitions). But will this give the USCIS a license to then take 2 more years to adjudicate these cases, at their leisure?