White House looking into recommendations to reduce Green Card adjudication and processing time
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The White House is looking into recommendations of a presidential commission to cut the processing time for Green Card adjudication and applications to only a half year and to clear the backlogs by April 2023 in a move that could be useful to numerous immigrant families, particularly those from China and India.
The President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders released its inaugural report on Friday. The information was approved on May 12 and sent to the President on 24th August and the White House Domestic Policy Council is currently reviewing its recommendations before they can send to President Joe Biden for his decision.
The report states that due to Coronavirus-related closures and staffing limitations and the continued effect of the 2017 travel bans, processing green cards up to the yearly cap has been troublesome.
It suggests that the Department of State’s National Visa Center (NVC) facility should recruit extra officials. To expand its capacity to process Green Card application interviews by 100% in 90 days from August 2022. By expanding Green Card applications and visa interviews and adjudicating decisions by 150% by April 2023, and decrease the current backlog by the end of 2023.
The panel said in the report that Green Card visa interviews and visa processing timelines. It should be limited to a targeted goal of six months. Green Card visa interviews and visa processing timelines should be restricted to a targeted goal of six months
The commission prescribes decreasing the organization’s pending family-based Green Card backlog. US Citizenship and Immigration Services should review their process, systems, and policies and establish new internal cycle time goals. By streamlining processes, removing redundant steps, if any, and automating any manual approvals.
Green Card adjudication and processing time
It says this should improve its internal dashboards and reporting system, and improve policies. To decrease the process duration for processing all forms of family-based Green Card applications
Family reunification has been postponed for quite a long time. Because of an expansion in family-based immigration backlogs over the past three decades.
The report expresses that out of the 226,000 green cards available. Just 65,452 family-based preference green cards were given in FY 2021.
“If there is a question or more data is required, USCIS (the US Citizenship and Immigration Services) and the Department of State (DOS) shall continue to process the applications outside the half-year goal and adjudicate decisions in a timely fashion,”
“If an application isn’t finished in a half year, then it won’t be ended and will continue to be processed in a timely fashion,”, the report states.
[DHS Final Public Charge Rule Effective from 23.Dec.2022]
The proposals also include adjudicating requests for temporary work programs. For example, the H-1B and H-2A visas for agricultural workers are within a range of two months. It extends the period of work permit expansion to 365 days rather than the current 180 days.
A green card is a permanent Resident Card given to immigrants to the US. As proof that the bearer has been granted the privilege of residing permanently while the H1B visa is a non-immigrant visa. That allows US companies to hire foreign workers for specialized positions that call for theoretical or technical expertise.
If accepted and implemented the recommendations could be a significant relief to immigrant families, particularly from India and China.
