Great, the INS cashes in and we have to wait even longer...
This article was posted on the Fragomen website (http://www.fragomen.com/index2.html):
03/04/2003 - OIG Conducts Audit of Premium Processing Program
March 4, 2003 -- The Office of the Inspector General (OIG), Audit Division, recently completed an audit of the Immigration and Naturalization Service's (INS) Premium Processing program. The Premium Processing program was established in June 2001 to allow for the payment of a service fee for expedited processing of certain employment-based applications.
The OIG audit focused on determining if the Premium Processing program was achieving its goals for the expedited processing of employment-based petitions and applications as well as if the processing times for similar petitions and applications changed considerably after the implementation of the Premium Processing program.
The audit examined the Premium Processing program for the period from June 2001 through October 2002. It reviewed Premium Processing activities at the INS Headquarters in Washington D.C., and at the INS's four service centers: St. Albans, Vermont; Dallas, Texas; Laguna Niguel, California; and Lincoln, Nebraska.
The audit found the following:
· The Premium Processing program has had an adverse affect on the time required to adjudicate routine applications and petitions. The mandate to adjudicate premium applications within 15 days has contributed in part to the increased backlog of petitions at the service centers.
· The INS service centers have failed to institute Interagency Border Inspection System (IBIS) checks in a timely manner. The INS required that all petitions undergo IBIS checks as of January 28, 2002, but, due to a number of factors, the service centers did not institute IBIS checks for all petitions until March 2002. As a result, approximately 12,000 Premium Processing petitions were adjudicated without IBIS checks between January 28, 2002, and March 18, 2002.
· The INS lacks reliable data about the Premium Processing workload and the resources it requires. The INS maintains statistical databases to track all types of adjudications, staff, and supervisory hours, but Premium Processing is not separate from the information in these databases or others used for supporting budget requests, position allocations, and other analysis.
· To date, the INS has not conducted a formal analysis of the Premium Processing service fee or the unit processing cost.
After pinpointing the program's problems, OIG made the following recommendations:
· The INS must make sure that service centers and district offices are aware of policy and procedural changes affecting the adjudication of applications and petitions before those changes are implemented.
· A portion of Premium Processing revenues must be used to reduce the INS's adjudications backlog.
· The INS's nationwide work measurement system should be used to collect management information about the Premium Processing program.
· A study should be conducted to determine the unit costs for processing premium cases and to assign resources to meet the needs of the program.
To view the OIG analysis, click here: http://www.usdoj.gov/oig/audit/0314/final.pdf
This article was posted on the Fragomen website (http://www.fragomen.com/index2.html):
03/04/2003 - OIG Conducts Audit of Premium Processing Program
March 4, 2003 -- The Office of the Inspector General (OIG), Audit Division, recently completed an audit of the Immigration and Naturalization Service's (INS) Premium Processing program. The Premium Processing program was established in June 2001 to allow for the payment of a service fee for expedited processing of certain employment-based applications.
The OIG audit focused on determining if the Premium Processing program was achieving its goals for the expedited processing of employment-based petitions and applications as well as if the processing times for similar petitions and applications changed considerably after the implementation of the Premium Processing program.
The audit examined the Premium Processing program for the period from June 2001 through October 2002. It reviewed Premium Processing activities at the INS Headquarters in Washington D.C., and at the INS's four service centers: St. Albans, Vermont; Dallas, Texas; Laguna Niguel, California; and Lincoln, Nebraska.
The audit found the following:
· The Premium Processing program has had an adverse affect on the time required to adjudicate routine applications and petitions. The mandate to adjudicate premium applications within 15 days has contributed in part to the increased backlog of petitions at the service centers.
· The INS service centers have failed to institute Interagency Border Inspection System (IBIS) checks in a timely manner. The INS required that all petitions undergo IBIS checks as of January 28, 2002, but, due to a number of factors, the service centers did not institute IBIS checks for all petitions until March 2002. As a result, approximately 12,000 Premium Processing petitions were adjudicated without IBIS checks between January 28, 2002, and March 18, 2002.
· The INS lacks reliable data about the Premium Processing workload and the resources it requires. The INS maintains statistical databases to track all types of adjudications, staff, and supervisory hours, but Premium Processing is not separate from the information in these databases or others used for supporting budget requests, position allocations, and other analysis.
· To date, the INS has not conducted a formal analysis of the Premium Processing service fee or the unit processing cost.
After pinpointing the program's problems, OIG made the following recommendations:
· The INS must make sure that service centers and district offices are aware of policy and procedural changes affecting the adjudication of applications and petitions before those changes are implemented.
· A portion of Premium Processing revenues must be used to reduce the INS's adjudications backlog.
· The INS's nationwide work measurement system should be used to collect management information about the Premium Processing program.
· A study should be conducted to determine the unit costs for processing premium cases and to assign resources to meet the needs of the program.
To view the OIG analysis, click here: http://www.usdoj.gov/oig/audit/0314/final.pdf