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Digital immigration records and greater efficiency are key priorities set out by the new USCIS director Leon Rodriguez in his first remarks to Congress.
“One of my top challenges and top priorities is tackling our agency’s information systems,” Rodriguez said to the House Judiciary Committee on July 29, testifying on a range of immigration topics.
He noted that the agency still operates on paper systems or legacy electronic systems that prevent optimal efficiency.
“We could be operating even better if we had modern information systems,” said Rodriguez, who was sworn in on July 9.
Short-term goals include the addition of new technology that would use Department of Homeland Security cloud services by the end of this year. Rodriguez said that web-based features will be rolled out beginning in September and the agency will continue to introduce new user functions every four to six months.
The long-range digital overhaul of records, known as the Transformation Program, is currently in progress and was originally planned to be unveiled in 2013. However, it is now expected to be completed in fiscal year 2018 or 2019.
“For me, making sure that, at a minimum before I conclude my tenure, we can see the light at the end of the tunnel for those challenges, will be a top priority,” Rodiguez said.
BAL Analysis: The move to digital files is intended to streamline processing, reduce delays, and increase capacity. The proposed introduction of new user functions as early as this year is a promising sign; however, the estimated six-year delay in the agency’s completion of its digital Transformation Program means these benefits may not be seen for some time.
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Travelers worldwide continue to experience delays in obtaining U.S. visas due to a computer crash in the State Department’s database that records and prints visas. The Bureau of Consular Affairs has said that it is making progress in restoring its nonimmigrant visa database and had made changes over the weekend to try to restore performance.
However, the system is not functioning at full capacity and an extensive backlog that developed during outages over the past 10 days has further slowed operations. The State Department has cautioned travelers that the system will not be operating normally until the backlog is cleared.
U.S. embassies and consulates may limit or reschedule nonimmigrant visa interviews until the system is up to speed. Visa applicants should track their applications, keep copies of documents submitted with their applications and carefully review visas and other travel documents once they are issued to make sure the information contained in them is accurate.
The performance problems began July 19 with the U.S. State Department’s Consular Consolidated Database. The database houses consular records and is used to approve and print visas, passports and other travel documents. As a security measure, consular officers are prevented from printing or issuing visas until approved by the database.
BAL Analysis: Travelers are urged to plan well in advance when possible. The Bureau of Consular Affairs is placing a high priority on processing nonimmigrant visas. Foreign assignees, students and other travelers awaiting U.S. visas should contact their employers or sponsoring entities regarding the possibility of such delay.
An outage in the U.S. Department of State’s database that processes visas and other immigration documents is causing delays for travelers seeking U.S. visas around the world.
The glitch in the Consular Consolidated Database began on Saturday and has stalled the processing of visas for foreign nationals at U.S. embassies and consular posts abroad. It has also delayed applications by Americans for U.S. passports and records of births abroad.
Travelers should expect delays in obtaining visas as well as a backlog of applications that may further lengthen wait times.
Requests for evidence (RFEs) – including “unduly burdensome” requests – continue to plague high-skilled worker petitions in the H-1B, L-1A and L-1B categories, according to the 2014 annual report of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Ombudsman.
In the first half of fiscal year 2014, the RFE rate hit nearly 50 percent for L-1B Specialized Occupation petitions and nearly 43 percent for L-1A Intracompany Transferee petitions.
RFEs have also increased for H-1B (Specialty Occupations) petitions at both the California Service Center (CSC) and Vermont Service Center (VSC) over the past two years. RFEs for L-1A and L-1B petitions have been on a general upward trend for the past several years and rose sharply in the past year at the VSC.
‘Unduly burdensome’ RFEs
The report pointed out the inefficiency of unnecessary RFEs and gave an example of an actual RFE issued in multiple cases by both the CSC and VSC that requested a list of all employees, their payroll summaries and all employee agreements.
“This RFE is unduly burdensome and demands confidential, proprietary information,” the Ombudsman’s report said, adding that after repeated discussions, USCIS reopened the cases and issued approvals.
The report noted that on June 3, USCIS issued a policy memo instructing adjudicators to issue RFEs only if “the officer determines that the totality of the evidence submitted does not meet the applicable standard of proof. Otherwise, the adjudicator should approve or deny the petition.”
L-1B denials
The Ombudsman also reported that L-1B denial rates have risen recently. The denial rate five years ago was 20 percent, but today 40 percent of cases are denied at the CSC and 32 percent are denied at the VSC. The report called for long-awaited guidance from the agency on the definition of “specialized knowledge.”
The approval rates for H-1B, L-1, and EB-1 petitioners who file administrative appeals are extremely low, according to recently released statistics by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
In fiscal year 2013, the chances of success for all three categories were in the single-digit percentages. Only 1 percent of H-1B (Specialty Occupation) appeals adjudicated by the Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) were approved, while 7 percent of L-1 (Intracompany Transferee) and 4 percent of EB-1 (Extraordinary Ability) appeals were approved.
Moreover, the success rates were all lower than those in 2012. The statistics appear in the USCIS Ombudsman’s 2014 Annual Report released June 27. The report includes raw numbers for AAO receipts, sustains (approvals) and dismissals (denials) for fiscal years 2011, 2012 and 2013. They do not include rejections, withdrawals or remands, or cases that USCIS decided favorably on initial review and therefore did not forward to AAO.
AAO decision rates: H-1B, L-1, EB-1 appeals:
BAL Analysis: The numbers indicate the difficulty of winning appeals of USCIS decisions in three critical categories for U.S. business.
IMPACT – MEDIUM
What is the change? A strike planned for Tuesday by Israel’s main public labor union has been called off because of the escalating conflict between Israel and the Palestinian authority in Gaza.
What does the change mean? Border control operations will not be interrupted.
Background: A public workers’ strike, which was planned for July 8, would have shut down operations at all border control posts except Ben-Gurion International Airport. The day of the planned strike, the union postponed its strike indefinitely in light of a resurgent Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
BAL Analysis: The postponement of the labor strike will resume border control operations.
This alert has been provided by the BAL Global Practice group and our network provider located in Israel. For additional information, please contact your BAL attorney.
Priority dates for the employment-based second-preference (EB-2) for India will advance nearly five months to Jan. 22, 2009 (from Sept. 1, 2008). Also, in the EB-2 category, the priority date for China will advance moderately by approximately three month to Oct. 8, 2009 (from July 1, 2009). All other countries will remain current in the EB-2 category.
There are also significant movements in the employment-based third-preference (EB-3) categories. Priority dates in the EB-3 category for China will advance by approximately two years and will move forward by over one year for the Philippines. The priority cut-off date for EB-3 China will advance to Nov. 1, 2008 (from Oct. 1, 2006), but this advancement does not catch up to the previous six-year retrogression. EB-3 Philippines will advance to June 1, 2010 (from Jan. 1, 2009). The worldwide and Mexico EB-3 cut-off dates will remain at April 1, 2011. EB-3 for India will advance by only seven days to Nov. 8, 2003 (from Nov. 1, 2003).
The EB-1 category for all countries will remain current.
Summary of August 2014 Visa Bulletin Priority Date Cutoffs:
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has added three new features to the E-Verify system. E-Verify is a USCIS program that participating employers can use to verify an employee’s identity and employment eligibility. The program compares information from the employee’s Form I-9 against the Social Security Administration and Department of Homeland Security databases. The three enhancements are:
USCIS announced the enhancements June 23 and created an E-Verify Enhancements page for more information.
BAL Analysis: The new features are intended to make the E-Verify system more user-friendly and efficient.
The U.S. Senate has confirmed Leon Rodriguez as the next director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
Rodriguez will leave the Office of Civil Rights at the Department of Health and Human Services, where he has been director since 2011. He previously served as chief of staff and deputy assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, overseeing cases involving discrimination based on national origin and immigration status.
The son of Cuban immigrants, Rodriguez attended Brown University and Boston College Law School. His grandparents moved to Cuba from Poland and Turkey to escape anti-Semitism.
“We are filling vacancies in senior-level positions in this department and injecting a new energy within its leadership,” said Jeh Johnson, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
President Barack Obama nominated Rodriguez in December to replace Alejandro Mayorkas, who moved to deputy secretary of DHS. Lori Scialabba has been acting director of USCIS since December.
Statistics on the number and characteristics of lawful permanent residents (LPRs) for fiscal year 2013 have been released by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The total number of LPRs decreased by 4 percent, from 1.03 million in fiscal 2012 to 990,553 in fiscal 2013. The number of LPRs in the employment-based preference categories was higher in 2013 (16 percent of all LPRs) than in 2012 (14 percent), mostly because of higher limits. Within the employment-based preference categories, a higher percentage of LPRs than in the past two fiscal years fell into the categories of “professionals with advanced degrees” and “skilled workers, professional, unskilled workers.”
In 2013, 40 percent of new LPRs were born in Asia and 32 percent were born in North America, of which 14 percent were born in Mexico. These figures are consistent with a recent trend—every year since 2009, Asian and North America accounted for 70 percent or more of the LPR flow.
The top five states of residence for LPRs in 2013 were California (19 percent), New York (13 percent), Florida (10 percent), Texas (9 percent) and New Jersey (5 percent).
The report, published by DHS’ Office of Immigration Statistics, presented data drawn from the Computer Linked Application Information Management System (CLAIMS) and the Electronic Immigration System (ELIS), two databases of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services that maintain numbers of applications and biographical information of lawful permanent residents.