April 9, 2002

INS to Finally Introduce E-Filing?

At a meeting attended by GT attorneys, INS today discussed its much-anticipated movement toward electronic filing. The agency has selected two application types to make available for electronic filing by the end of this fiscal year: Form I-765 (employment authorization application) filed independently (rather than with, for example, an adjustment application), and Form I-90, application for replacement green card). These were selected because they are short forms with little supplemental documentation and the necessary biometric information can be collected at an INS Application Support Center. For FY03, rather than looking at forms to be added to e-filing, the agency wants to look at the customer base to make certain groups of application (such as I-129 and I-140). The goal at this time is to make 50% of their workload available to e-filing in FY03, 70% by end of FY04. The idea is to be able to go to INS web site, opt for e-filing, go to a secure site for application completion and e-payment (unclear which ones they will accept) on a secure site. There has been no decision on whether they will be expediting the adjudications of the filings but are considering filing fee discounts.