USCIS Policy Review Process Underway: First Ten Priorities Named
06 Aug 2010In April, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) launched what it describes as a “top-to-bottom examination of the agency’s adjudication and customer-service policies,” by issuing a survey to USCIS employees as well as public stakeholders, asking them to identify the first ten areas of focus for its policy review. (See USCIS Press Release, USCIS Announces First Ten Areas of Focus for Agency-wide Policy Review, 26.Jul.2010.) Based on nearly 5,600 responses from internal and external constituencies, the USCIS announced that its policy review will focus on the following issue areas:
• National Customer Service Center
• Nonimmigrant H1B program
• Naturalization and Citizenship
• Employment-based Adjustment of Status
• Family-based Adjustment of Status
• Employment-based Preference Categories 1, 2, and 3
• Refugee and Asylee Adjustment of Status
• Form I-601
• General Humanitarian issues
• Employment Authorization and Travel Documents
The USCIS news release quotes USCIS Director, Alejandro Mayorkas, calling for “consistency in the policies that guide us and in how we implement them for the public benefit,” and pledging to “work collaboratively toward the shared objectives of consistency, integrity, transparency and efficiency.”
In the next phase of the process, USCIS will set up internal working groups to improve current policies and procedures in each area of concern, with ongoing input from the public. The policy review is expected to last several years, and the USCIS said it intends to post new policy documents for public comment. Watch this space – as well as MurthyDotCom and the MurthyBulletin – for updates as the process moves forward.