sponsoring a canadian fiance

Reba
Moderator


Canuck in NC

Joined: 16 Jul 2004
Posts: 1509
Location: North Carolina

Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 3:05 am

 

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[quote= USCIS]Advisory on Processing Times

USCIS has received a significant increase in the number of applications filed. In July and August, nearly 2.5 million applications and petitions of all types were received. This compares to 1.2 million applications and petitions received in the same time period last year. This fiscal year, we received 1.4 million applications for naturalization; nearly double the volume we received the year before. The agency is working to improve processes and focus increased resources, including hiring approximately 1,500 new employees, to address this workload.

As a result, average processing times for certain application types may grow longer. In particular, naturalization applications filed after June 1, 2007 may take approximately 16-18 months to process.

Please note: As of March 11, 2008, processing times for naturalization applications filed after June 1, 2007 have been lowered to 14 to 16 months from 16-18 months to process. Please see the statement of Director Gonzalez in the Related Links section of this page.

USCIS has several informational services to keep you apprised of the agency's progress. We encourage you to take advantage of information posted on our website and to create and monitor your profile in our Case Status Online system to properly track your case. You will find a link to Case Status Online in the Related Links section of this page.

We will continue to provide additional information on application processing times as it becomes available.[/quote]

The backlog is because they can't handle the work load

from The processing timelines page on USCIS
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Steven
CanuckAbroad VIP



Joined: 28 Sep 2007
Posts: 1676
Location: Calgary

Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 10:37 am

 

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The point is with this is that I reckon the processing time will plummet once they get to the end of that backlog, because there are only so many people who can apply for naturalization.

I have a relative who is worried about this and she can apply sometime around April next year. I reckon her application might actually be quite quick because it's more than 18 months from June 2007 and they will still have the staff.

The only question is whether the new naturalization test will slow things down further.
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Steve.

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Steven
CanuckAbroad VIP



Joined: 28 Sep 2007
Posts: 1676
Location: Calgary

Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 10:44 am

 

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What they were talking about is eliminating most of the family-based preference categories if in fact they did have an amnesty (third and fourth would no longer exist and second would be narrowed), which is in fact not an amnesty as you would have to leave to apply in one of the new work-related categories and pay a fine to get a waiver so you could apply, although you could also stay on an annual "Z" visa after paying several thousand dollars (so who would leave?)

The idea is that the staff freed up from family-based categories would go to work on the Z-category applications and the new employment-based categories, but personally I think it would simply be a total nightmare because family-based categories are easy to do, all you have to do is prove the relationship whereas with employment-based they have to check your qualifications, work history and so on.

Anyway it's not going to happen, the unions oppose it so the Democrats won't support it and they control Congress. Although I noticed that the AFL-CIO were starting to warm up to the idea of the Z-category because of all the ICE enforcement lately, and it turned out that AFL-CIO have a lot of illegal immigrants who are members.
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Steve.

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