The USCIS has recently announced — yet again — another delay in the initial processing of immigration petitions and applications. This seems to be linked to the sudden huge increase in processing fees on July 30, 2007 causing a huge influx in naturalization applications to be filed right before the increase went into effect. According to the USCIS this has resulted in a significant increase even in the time it takes to receive a “receipt notice” of newly filed application.

All this is not new to practitioners who have been dealing with processing delays that can often take years. I always like to remind my immigration clients that there are still people who filed in the mid-1980s that are waiting for a current visa number from the State Department. Sometimes even routine activities can take an indeterminable amount of time and calling, writing, getting an InfoPass appointment all result in no further progress on someone’s file.

If you are waiting for a spouse or even a fiance(e) this kind of reminder can be very emotionally disappointing. Falling in love with someone thousands of miles away is hard enough, knowing that it may take additional months — or even years — until you can be together can be very hard to bear. Unfortunately no one in Washington has been able to figure out how to run the USCIS effectively and efficiently faced with the uncertainties of immigration law and the lack of a coherent immigration policy that can deal with the millions of undocumented long term residents already in the United States.

The USCIS update on receipting delays can be found here.

Stumble it!