Keeping in line with its commitment to increase efficiency, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) announced changes to improve and simplify how the agency communicates case processing time data to the public. Effective immediately, users can now “find the processing time information for their particular type of case, rather than seeing an aggregate of all related case types.”
Historically, the agency has reported and posted its processing times as a range to provide general information on the length of time it may take USCIS to process a specific form. The reported estimated processing times were based on the number of months that elapsed between the date USCIS received an application, petition, or request, and the date USCIS issued a decision based on a certain percentile of completed cases for that form over the prior six-month period. As part of USCIS’ commitment to improve not only efficiency, but transparency, and customer service, the agency’s introduction of technological updates has now made it easier for individuals to get an immediate answer on when they can make an inquiry into a case that was filed. Additional changes to the Service’s public website include:
Adding drop-down options for form categories to help narrow results to only the processing times that are relevant to a case and help the user understand their particular situation;
Adding a case inquiry tool where the user can insert their receipt date and get an immediate answer on whether they should contact USCIS with questions about their specific case (in this situation, the service will provide users a link to submit a case inquiry online);
Displaying a single 80th percentile processing time (rather than a range) to simplify the information provided and improve the ability of users to estimate how long it is likely to take USCIS to process a benefit request; and
Revising, streamlining, and adding more content to the processing times webpages to increase transparency, including a new “Frequently Asked Questions” page and an improved “More Information” page.
Indeed, these are welcomed improvements that will shed light on processing life cycles. However, we must remember that processing times are meant to be used only as a reference point. Because each case is unique, some cases may take longer than others to process due to the specific facts of each individual’s particular case.