Thursday, April 28, 2016

USCIS Processing Times

Message adapted from USCIS Stakeholder Communication, 04/28/2016

United States Citizenship and Immigration Services recognizes that some cases are taking longer to complete than usual and apologize for any inconvenience that this may have caused. Current personnel resources do not align with the present caseload, but they are working to address the staffing shortages and workload issues that are causing the delays. 

USCIS continually reviews their workload capacity at each service center and, based on their findings, redistribute the work among the service centers. This type of planning allows USCIS to maximize their resources and minimize any delays when work is transferred. USCIS has recently transferred cases between all of the service centers, including their newest center, the Potomac Service Center. This work includes all recently filed Forms I-765, Application for Employment Authorization, submitted by F-1 and M-1 students for Optional Practical Training.  For more details, you can visit the workload transfer updates page.

While this may not reduce wait times immediately, USCIS hopes you will see improvement over the next few months. Transferring cases will assist with backlog reduction, ensure processing times are consistent across service centers, and provide customers and stakeholders with faster responses.

Here is what you need to know if your case is transferred to another center for action: 
  • Your case will be worked based on the processing times of the receiving center
  • All notices and requests will come from the new center
  • Please notify USCIS any time you change your address
  • If you receive notice that your Green Card has been approved, please wait 120 days to receive it in the mail
Customers can access current processing times on the USCIS website at https://egov.uscis.gov/cris/processTimesDisplayInit.do.

USCIS encourages you to sign up for an account with Case Status Online to get an email or text notification when there is an update to your status, including when your Green Card is mailed. They also encourage you to keep your address up to date to ensure that your card is delivered to your most current physical address. You can update your mailing address online at www.uscis.gov/changeaddress.

Friday, April 8, 2016

Changes Coming for USCIS Filing Fees

A new USCIS fee schedule is currently under review at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). OMB has 90 days to review the fee schedule before it is published in the Federal Register for public comment. The proposed fee schedule is expected to be published by July 1, 2016. As fees have not changed since 2010, some fee increases could be significant.