USCIS Updates Projected Naturalization Case Processing Time

nyc_naturalizer

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I guess they're going public with the 13-15 month figure Chertoff gave yesterday.


USCIS Updates Projected Naturalization Case Processing Time
Agency To Complete 36-percent More Naturalization Cases Than Last Year


WASHINGTON – U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today that it will finish more than one million naturalization cases during fiscal year 2008 – far exceeding the number of cases completed last year. This update comes following a thorough analysis of the work completed during the last six months.

“By the end of the year, I expect USCIS will have finished 36 percent more naturalization cases than last year without compromising national security or the integrity of the naturalization process,” said USCIS Director Emilio Gonzalez.

The agency recently updated the expected time it will take to complete naturalization cases, projecting processing times averaging 13-15 months. That’s a three month improvement from the 16-18 month projection that USCIS made six months ago.

A critical component of the strategy for addressing this workload is to quickly grow the capacity to handle the influx of additional cases. That includes expanding the USCIS workforce by adding nearly 3,000 new employees, detailing employees to work in the most heavily affected offices, quadrupling the funding for overtime and using Asylum Office facilities and staff to conduct naturalization interviews.

Last summer, USCIS received an unprecedented number of applications and petitions for immigration benefits. During June, July and August alone, USCIS received nearly three million filings, compared to 1.8 million filings during the same period the previous year. This sudden surge included 1.4 million naturalization applications last year – 460,000 in July alone. While historically filing increases have occurred in advance of fee increases, Presidential elections, immigration debates and new legislation, none of the past increases are close to the magnitude of the last summer’s surge.
 
I think this is a mix of genuine good news and the usual BS.

As Bobsmyth has pointed out, the gradual movement of the timeframe from 16-18 months to 13-15 months simply reflects the fact that a good deal of time has passed since the initial projection. They can hardly take credit for that.

Emilio's claim that 36% more naturalization cases may be completed this year than last year might be on the money. Even with the current level of staffing increases, 31% more cases were completed in February than January.

However, a 36% increase is not nearly enough to address the backlog. The total number of cases pending at the end of December 2007 was 107% more than at the end of December 2006.

The real piece of good news is the staffing. Chertoff cited some figures in yesterday's senate hearing that show some actual movement here. Today's announcement confirms the recent announcement about overtime interviews with some real details about funding, staff and locations. Best of all for those of us in places like NYC, it specifies that high volume DOs will receive priority.
 
This is indeed a piece of good news! Let's see if it really hold up, though.

What I don't get is, the claims in this announcement as well as the one about milestones for the namecheck backlog are things that Chertoff could have trumpeted in his testimony yesterday. Instead, he kept giving the answer, "I don't know, I'll have to check on that."

My theory: even Michael Chertoff has a hard time getting through to an IO.
 
What I don't get is, the claims in this announcement as well as the one about milestones for the namecheck backlog are things that Chertoff could have trumpeted in his testimony yesterday. Instead, he kept giving the answer, "I don't know, I'll have to check on that."

My theory: even Michael Chertoff has a hard time getting through to an IO.

Perhaps he just showed up unprepared?
 
Perhaps he just showed up unprepared?

Or, Gonzalez wants all the glory to himself as part of his swansong. The two big press releases yesterday each contain a juicy quote from Emilio, but DHS is not mentioned. If he can make the mess look like DHS mismanagement rather than USCIS mismanagement, all the better for him.
 
Its good news, better if I start seeing the results though, especailly at the Washington DO. So the news comes form Washington while the local DO is one of the slowest in the nation. Since there is no IL received March end - April begining, I doubt that the results will be locally felt anytime soon...

Thanks for the post though....
 
Its good news, better if I start seeing the results though, especailly at the Washington DO. So the news comes form Washington while the local DO is one of the slowest in the nation. Since there is no IL received March end - April begining, I doubt that the results will be locally felt anytime soon...

Thanks for the post though....

I don't expect to "feel" the results anytime soon in NYC either. But I'm watching for evidence to trickle in that things are speeding up. The first sign of this would be reports of people at our DOs getting appointments for evening and weekend interviews.
 
Or, Gonzalez wants all the glory to himself as part of his swansong. The two big press releases yesterday each contain a juicy quote from Emilio, but DHS is not mentioned. If he can make the mess look like DHS mismanagement rather than USCIS mismanagement, all the better for him.

We're overlooking one very important factor: POLITICS. The more this issue unravels, the more obvious it is that Chertoff forced Gonzalez out. This explains his "sweet" goodbye message to Gonzalez posted at uscis.gov. This perfectly explains your theory on why Gonzalez wanted all the glory to himself.
 
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