美国公民及移民服务局宣布新的举措减少案件积压

华盛顿——美国公民和移民服务局宣布了三项努力，以提高效率并减轻整个合法移民系统的负担。USCIS 将设定新的机构范围内的积压减少目标，将加急处理扩展到其他表格类型，并努力改善对就业授权文件的及时访问。由于上届政府造成的 COVID-19 大流行和资源限制，USCIS 继承了大量未决案件并增加了处理时间。通过拜登政府今天采取的行动，美国公民及移民服务局正在采取行动减少这些案件量和处理时间，同时确保申请人和请愿人可以获得公平和高效的服务。

“USCIS 仍然致力于为我们所服务的所有人提供及时和公平的决定，”USCIS 主任 Ur M. Jaddou 说。“我们裁决的每一份申请都代表了移民及其家人的希望和梦想，以及他们迫切的迫切需求，例如财务稳定和人道主义保护。”

为了减少该机构的待处理案件量，美国公民及移民服务局本月将制定新的内部周期时间目标。这些目标是指导 USCIS 劳动力减少积压工作的内部指标，并影响该机构处理案件所需的时间。随着周期时间的改善，处理时间也会随之而来，申请人和请愿人将更快地收到关于他们案件的决定。USCIS 将在 2023 财年末增加能力、改进技术并扩大人员配置，以实现这些新目标。

该机构公开发布的处理时间显示了美国公民及移民服务局处理特定表格所需的平均时间——从该机构收到申请到对案件做出决定。在内部，美国公民及移民服务局通过称为“周期时间”的指标监控该机构工作量中的未决案件数量。周期时间衡量特定表格的待决案件有多少个月等待决定。作为一项内部管理指标，周期时间通常与该机构公开发布的中间处理时间相当。周期时间是 USCIS 的运营部门用来衡量该机构在减少我们的积压和整体案件处理时间方面取得或没有取得多少进展的时间。

今天，国土安全部 (DHS) 宣布了一项最终规则，该规则将加急处理规定与《紧急临时措施 USCIS 稳定法案》保持一致。该规则规定了国会提供的高级处理费和裁决时间框架。

加急处理是一项加急裁决服务，现在仅适用于提交I-129 表格（非移民工人申请）的申请人，以及提交I-140 表格（外籍工人移民申请）的某些基于就业的移民签证申请人。该最终规则扩展了最终符合加急处理服务资格的表格类别，包括I-539 表格，申请延长/更改非移民身份； 表格 I-765，就业许可申请；和 I-140 表格下的其他分类。

USCIS 打算在 2022 财年分阶段开始实施 I-539、I-765 和 I-140 表格的加急处理。USCIS 还将遵守国会的要求，即不得扩大加急处理的范围。导致常规移民福利申请的处理时间增加。

USCIS 计划通过扩大 I-140 表格申请者的加急处理资格来开始这一分阶段的实施过程，申请 EB-1 移民分类为跨国高管或经理，或 EB-2 移民分类为具有高级学位或寻求特殊能力的专业成员国家利益豁免。

USCIS 继续朝着目前名为“临时延长某些续签申请人的就业授权和文件的自动延期期限”的临时最终规则取得进展。

最近几个月，美国公民及移民服务局开始简化许多 EAD 流程，包括延长某些 EAD 的有效期，以及为医疗保健和儿童保育工作者提供加速工作授权更新。临时最终规则旨在巩固这一进展，并确保某些个人在其申请待决期间不会失去其工作授权状态。

美国公民及移民服务局为减少处理时间和该机构的待处理案件量而采取的先前行动的完整列表可在我们的网站上找到。

WASHINGTON— Today, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is announcing a trio of efforts to increase efficiency and reduce burdens to the overall legal immigration system. USCIS will set new agency-wide backlog reduction goals, expand premium processing to additional form types, and work to improve timely access to employment authorization documents. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and resource constraints resulting from the prior administration, USCIS inherited a significant number of pending cases and increased processing times. Through today’s actions by the Biden administration, USCIS is acting to reduce these caseloads and processing times, while also ensuring that fair and efficient services are available to applicants and petitioners.

“USCIS remains committed to delivering timely and fair decisions to all we serve,” said USCIS Director Ur M. Jaddou. “Every application we adjudicate represents the hopes and dreams of immigrants and their families, as well as their critical immediate needs such as financial stability and humanitarian protection.”

To reduce the agency’s pending caseload, USCIS is establishing new internal cycle time goals this month. These goals are internal metrics that guide the backlog reduction efforts of the USCIS workforce and affect how long it takes the agency to process cases. As cycle times improve, processing times will follow, and applicants and petitioners will receive decisions on their cases more quickly. USCIS will be increase capacity, improve technology, and expand staffing to achieve these new goals by the end of FY 2023.

The agency’s publicly posted processing times show the average amount of time it took USCIS to process a particular form – from when the agency received the application until a decision was made on the case. Internally, USCIS monitors the number of pending cases in the agency’s workload through a metric called “cycle times.” A cycle time measures how many months’ worth of pending cases for a particular form are awaiting a decision. As an internal management metric, cycle times are generally comparable to the agency’s publicly posted median processing times. Cycle times are what the operational divisions of USCIS use to gauge how much progress the agency is, or is not, making on reducing our backlog and overall case processing times.

Today the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced a final rule that aligns premium processing regulations with the Emergency Stopgap USCIS Stabilization Act. The rule codifies premium processing fees and adjudication timeframes provided by Congress.

Premium processing is an expedited adjudication service now available only to petitioners filing a Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker, and to certain employment-based immigrant visa petitioners filing a Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers. This final rule expands the categories of forms ultimately eligible for premium processing services, including Form I-539, Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status; Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization; and additional classifications under Form I-140.

USCIS intends to begin implementing, through a phased approach, premium processing availability of Form I-539, Form I-765 and Form I-140 in fiscal year 2022. USCIS will also adhere to the congressional requirement that the expansion of premium processing must not cause an increase in processing times for regular immigration benefit requests.

USCIS plans to begin this phased implementation process by expanding premium processing eligibility to Form I-140 filers requesting EB-1 immigrant classification as a multinational executive or manager, or EB-2 immigrant classification as a member of professions with advanced degrees or exceptional ability seeking a national interest waiver.

USCIS continues to make progress toward a temporary final rule currently named “Temporary Increase of the Automatic Extension Period of Employment Authorization and Documentation for Certain Renewal Applicants.”

In recent months, USCIS has begin streamlining many EAD processes, including extending validity periods for certain EADs and providing expedited work authorization renewals for healthcare and childcare workers. The temporary final rule aims to build on this progress and to ensure certain individuals will not lose their work authorization status while their applications are pending.

A full list of prior actions USCIS has taken to reduce processing times and the agency’s pending caseload is available on our website.