USCIS director answers questions on processing times

Check out the Acting Director of the USCIS (formerly known as INS) making excuses for the slow, inefficient and bureaucratic mess of the immigration system in this country.

And within a couple days, he is again bombarded with hundreds of questions about processing times and dates. Just how many people are waiting in line for naturalization, legalization and to be united with their families?

It is not completely the fault of the USCIS — they do have quotas and rules to follow, but seriously their communication can be improved. Can we talk to a live person regarding our case on the phone or via email? Their 1800 number is absolutely useless. You enter your decade old petition number on the USCIS website and all it says is “petition approved.”

This one is priceless:

Many of you also asked about the processing times displayed at www.uscis.gov, and why the dates sometimes go backward rather than forward. We estimate those dates based on a formula that calculates, among other things, the number of cases received within a defined period, how many cases we’ve completed during that time period, and how many cases remain in process that our beyond our established processing time goals. Sometimes the flow of cases received and completed changes during a specific period in a way that shifts the date backwards. The processing timeframes shown on our webpage reflect applications just completed. So the page is only a tool for customers to estimate our current processing times.

Perfect, just perfect