USCIS seeks to increase efficiency with new policies
In an effort to improve efficiency and decrease a growing backlog, the USCIS has recently announced new policy changes.
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What will change at the USCIS?
To help speed up processing and reduce the ever-increasing application backlog, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will now institute the following new measures:
- Expanding premium processing. Premium processing will now be available to new applications such as I-140 petitions for multinational managers (EB-1C) and those applying under an I-140 under National Interest Waivers (EB-2 NIW). This premium processing will give the visa applicant a decision within 45 days for the cost of $2,500. Premium processing for I-539 applications under the F1, F2, J1, J2, M1, and M2 will also be available. I-539 will cost $1,750 for a decision within 30 days.
- Temporary Automatic Extensions for Employment Authorization Document (EAD) renewals. Certain eligible EAD categories will automatically be extended for renewal up to 180 days.
- The implementation of new internal cycle goals. The USCIS will set new goals to process non-premium processing applications in a shorter period of time by the 2023 fiscal year. This will include 2 months to process I-129 (Petition for a Nonimmigrant worker) petitions, 3 months for I-765 (Application for Employment Authorization) and I-539 (Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status) applications, and 6 months to process I-140 (Immigration Petition for Alien Worker) and I-485 (Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status) applications.
- An increase in USCIS staff. To meet growing demands, the USCIS hopes to hire more immigration workers by September of 2023.
How will this help with the backlogs?
Recently, the USCIS has been overwhelmed with an ever-increasing backlog of immigration-related applications due to both the forced closure of visa processing offices due to COVID coupled with a renewed interest in immigration to the United States due to violent conflicts (ex: the invasion of Ukraine, the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan) and humanitarian crisis (the influx of asylum seekers at the US southern border).
The USCIS hopes that these new changes will decrease waiting times from years down to several weeks to process. Furthermore, the USCIS hopes with its new goals and increased staffing to lessen the workload put on its immigration workers whilst helping non-US citizens in the United States to remain working in desperately needed employment fields hit by the labor shortage such as healthcare and the tech industry.
How IAS can help you
Immigration-related applications often take a lot longer to process if there are any mistakes or missing misinformation that is not included. It is for this reason that hiring an expert immigration lawyer is highly recommended if you are looking for a swift and hassle-free visa application process. Our immigration experts aim to help you complete and submit your immigration-related application as efficiently as possible so as to avoid any further delays no matter how complicated your case might be.
For more information regarding the services that we can provide contact us today at +1 844 290 6312 or leave a message with us online through the chat.
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Last modified on May 25th, 2022 at 3:14 am
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