From green cards to visas, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services processing cases

EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14) — An analysis from the American Immigration Lawyers Association says U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is processing cases so slowly that the backlog is at a “crisis level.”

From green cards to visas, the analysis says USCIS is processing cases significantly slower than previous years.

The analysis says in fiscal year 2014, the average case took just under five months to process and in fiscal 2018, the average case took about nine and a half months to process. That’s a 91 percent increase in case processing time in four years.

The analysis says USCIS is processing 94 percent of forms more slowly, but not because of an increase in cases.

The report says the overall number of cases declined by 17 percent in the third quarter of FY 2018, compared to the same period in the previous year.

The analysis says in April 2018, the most recent information available, the Department of Homeland Security’s report to Congress showed a backlog of 2.3 million cases and that the DHS suggested that’s the highest on record.

The lawyers association concluded the report with suggestions to address the backlog and speed up processing times.

They list strengthening congressional oversight to hold the agency accountable, as well as asking USCIS to be more transparent.