USCIS Ombudsman Annual Report (1)

On June 30, USCIS Ombudsman January Contreras released the annual ombudsman report. The report has some interesting findings and suggestions and I will discuss some of them in this and next few entries.

One interesting observation the Ombudsman report points out is that the demand for family-based immigrant visas is "very low" in the previous 15 months (p.32). In other words, immigrant visas available to petitioners who have a current priority date exceeds the number of petitioners who actually go to the consulate to apply for an immigrant visa. Why do not applicants, after waiting for so long to have their priority date to become current, go to apply for the actual visa when it becomes available?

Although the actual reasons are not clear, the ombudsman report makes a few guesses, such as change in health, employment, and family situations or financial and economic concerns (p.32). In addition, many petitioners choose not to leave the United States and return to their home country to go through consulate process because of their illegal or problematic immigrant status (p.33). Because many of the low demand, many visas number become unused.

This situation highlights the needs of a comprehensive immigration reform as soon as possible. It is obvious that the wait for these applicants, who have parents, siblings, and children that are citizens and legal permanent residents of the U.S., is simply too long. For example, according to the August Visa Bulletin released yesterday by the Department of State, unmarried children over 21 years old and born in Mexico to a U.S. citizen/legal permanent resident have to wait for about 18 years before they are eligible to apply for a green card. If they get married, they will have to wait in a different category or may even lose their eligibility to migrate to the U.S. (currently there is no immigrant visa category for married children of lawful permanent residents)!

Thus, we can see there is a real need to eliminate this backlog and allow family members of naturalized U.S. citizens and permanent residents to be reunited with them in a more effective manner. Of course some people will argue that those citizens do not need to choose to come to the United States at the first place. But given how many science and engineering graduates in our country are foreign-born and how many of these naturalized citizens gain their residency in the U.S. through jobs that need their advanced skills and knowledge, we simply cannot afford to tell them to all go home or stop coming, then expect our country to remain the same in innovation, technology research, and long-term development.

Meanwhile, it is wise for petitioners to remain alert to the monthly visa bulletin so they can apply for an immigrant visa at their local consulate as soon as a visa number is available to them. If there are concerns regarding prior violation of immigration status or change of family situation, it is a good idea to talk to an attorney instead of simply forgoing the chance to apply for a visa. Many attorneys are willing to give free initial consultation and will keep the content of their consultation confidential, so it would not hurt to talk to them.

Disclaimer: Information included in this post does not constitute as legal advice and receipt of this page does not constitute attorney-client relationship. For specific inquiries, please contact my office for an appointment.