Mayra In The News...
"Step 1 To Get A Green Card: Wait"
Published: Aug 13, 2007
TAMPA - Some wait, some eventually celebrate, but most agree the system that enables immigrants to become legal permanent residents needs reform.
Still, 1.27 million people received green cards last year, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. About 13,500 lived in the Bay area.
Even though legal immigration increased nationwide by 13 percent between 2005 and 2006, immigration lawyers remain frustrated by their clients' long waits.
Immigration Services aims to process green card applications in six months. Some immigrants wait far longer.
Immigration lawyer Mayra Calo said background checks, which involve several government agencies, often are to blame.
"Background checks are a term of art in immigration. An applicant goes through several databases and different types of checks," she said.
The FBI, which is responsible for name checks, takes the longest, Calo said.
Immigration lawyer John Dubrule said some of his clients wait longer than six months because of the name check.
"We have several clients whose cases should have been processed a year ago, but because the FBI hasn't done the background checks, they're waiting," Dubrule said.
Delays In Name Checks
Immigration Services ombudsman Prakash Khatri agrees the name checks are a problem.
In an annual report released in June, Khatri said the FBI name checks "continue to significantly delay adjudication of immigration benefits for many customers, hinder backlog reductions efforts, and may not achieve their intended national security objective."
The ombudsman reported that 329,160 name checks were pending with the FBI as of May, and about a third had been pending for more than a year.
Immigration lawyer Amit Dehra considers the name checks the most significant problem facing attorneys and their clients.
The wait also can be a national security problem, he said.
While immigrants wait for their security checks, they can apply for interim benefits such as work authorization, Dehra said.
Immigrants can work and live in the United States legally for years before the FBI realizes they're a threat.
"Isn't it better to tell him [an immigrant] in a few weeks that he's a threat to the country?" Dehra said.
The ombudsman acknowledged there is little Immigration Services can do to force the FBI to speed the process.
Backlog Sleight Of Hand
However, Khatri takes issue with the one thing the agency has done regarding the name checks: excluding from its backlog those waiting longer than six months for a name check.
Immigration Services has changed the criteria for cases it considers backlogged twice in the past four years.
"It obscures the issue and raises questions about its [Immigration Services] backlog reduction efforts," Khatri said.
Lawyers say the practice is deceptive because backlog numbers exclude a group of people still waiting for their green cards.
Bill Wright, spokesman for Immigration Services, said 440,000 people had pending green card cases at the end of fiscal year 2006, and none of them were counted as part of the agency's backlog. Of those, 92,000 were waiting on name checks.
The situation makes it impossible to predict their clients' waits. It's also difficult to check on the status of a name check, Calo said.
"It's a backlog to someone and someone should be held accountable," she said.
Reporter Jessica Hopper can be reached at (813) 259-7966 or jhopper@tampatrib.com.
