FBI Aims to Streamline Delays Due to Name Checks

This week brought some good news from USCIS and FBI regarding the significant decline in the number of pending FBI name checks for individuals seeking immigration benefits in the U.S.   We have a number of clients who are directly impacted of such FBI security delays and we have heard numerous stories about significant processing times.  For such applicants, this piece of news should provide some comfort.

According to the numbers released by USCIS:

• There were 269,943 name checks pending on May 6, 2008. There are 95,449 pending as of August 12, 2008; and
• There were 185,162 name checks pending for more than six months on May 6, 2008. There are 61,817 pending more than six months as of August 12, 2008.

One of the reasons for the delays and the improvement in processing is the surge in applications in the summer of 2007.  The USCIS and FBI are slowly progressing through this surge of applications and, as a result, should be able to adjudicate security checks and the corresponding applications slightly faster in the future.

We will continue to monitor the FBI-caused delays and update as we receive more information.  If you have stories related to FBI name check delays to share with us, please contact us.