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ResourcesVisa & Immigration LawUS Immigration LawUS Immigration Form Complexity Causing Delays in Processing?

US Immigration Form Complexity Causing Delays in Processing?

Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing US Immigration forms specifically the complexity thereof and how they can have an overall impact on case processing. 

In a recent blog posting that came from thinkimmigration.org, it is titled, USCIS Acknowledges That its Own Policies Compound Case Processing Delays. This was posted by Jason Boyd. Those who are interested in this should go ahead and check out this blog directly. There is a lot of information in this and although I made a couple of videos where  we cite some things in this there is quite a bit more frankly and it really provides some insight into the “forest as well as the trees” if you will with respect to these topics.

But basically a paraphrase and a certain number of Congressional Representatives basically petitioned the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services; they sent a letter I should say, and demanded some insight into why there has been a growing number of delays associated with Immigration processing. Now there is quite a bit going on here. I have done some other videos as I said on this topic so you can look around at the time that this video is being posted and you will see other videos contemporaneously with it talking about other aspects of this overall phenomenon and then there is a lot more in this blog that goes into greater depth. It is as specific if not a little bit more so than I might be in this video but there are other topics as well; again the forest and the trees. One thing that I thought was really interesting in here and something that I have seen as a sort of a factor in delaying certain cases that are going through the Immigration process has been forms and the complexity thereof and moreover the changing of various forms. But let me quote directly from this article: "The Administration has cited a number of policies and practices associated with declining completion rates," and this blog goes into great detail about how they analyze completion rates, the factors that go into creating numbers for completion rates of these cases. I am not going to go into that at all. I urge those who are interested in this stuff to check out this blog. It is very good. “In April 2018 it identified among other things the "increasing complexity and length of forms” and August 2017 comparison by David Bier of the Cato Institute shows the widespread expansion in USCIS form length.” So that is true. We have seen various forms associated with Family Immigration especially be increased in length. In fact we have seen forms changed as well and I would argue that the changing of forms, a periodic changing of forms, also has an overall impact on delay in processing most notably because some people aren't aware of the change in forms. That being said, "Yes, USCIS does go out of their way to announce it, but if you don't have your finger on the pulse of Immigration it can be a little bit difficult to ascertain when and if those forms have been changed. So various lay people that go ahead and apply for some of these Visa categories might not be aware of that and as a result they may file an out-of-date form which will result in a rejection and probably a refiling and I am sure that those kinds of circumstances are then tabulated toward processing delays; or at least I would argue they should be. 

So the thing to keep in mind with respect to this overall process and the delays that maybe becoming a rather "new normal" if you will with respect to how we deal with US Immigration, the thing to keep in mind is, understanding the forms which need to be filed, understanding what exactly they are asking for in these forms, keeping abreast of how the forms expand.  I find it interesting that where I was once thought the I-130 was a relatively short form petition, it is now quite long in terms of actual page numbers of the actual forms and there is also additional petition forms associated with something akin to the K-3, CR-1 or IR-1 Visa petition and for that reason things are changing and processing delays are occurring. How this is going to play out in the future remains to be seen but I think it is I think it is safe to say it is not particularly reasonable to expect that these processing delays are going to decrease any time soon. In fact I think we are going to have to either deal with them being what they are for now or more likely probably increase processing delays as time progresses.