Checking-In With USCIS's Backlog Reduction Initiatives

On March 29, 2022, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced three measures they are taking to increase efficiency and reduce overall burdens on the immigration system: 1. new agency-wide backlog reduction goals; 2. Premium Processing for additional petition types, and 3. a focus on improving timely access to employment authorization documents.¹ While the USCIS issued this announcement last year, it remains important for applicants of many different types of immigration benefits. Therefore, in this article, we will "check in" to provide clarification and updates to this consequential USCIS announcement.

Backlog Reductions: One way that the USCIS has been able to cut down backlogs has been to establish an "internal cycle time goals."[i] This is a set of internal metrics intended to improve case processing times. As an example, the agency's processing time goal for Form I-129 petitions is two weeks. A "cycle time" measures how many months' worth