March 11, 2009

U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services Eliminates FBI Name Check Backlogs

On March 4, 2009, the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that by working in close partnership with the FBI, it has been able eliminate the backlog of FBI name checks pending more than six months. This is a significant milestone for the USCIS and the FBI as approximately 16 months ago, nearly 150,000 name checks were pending for more than six months.

The USCIS and FBI are on schedule to meet two additional milestones: (1) completing by May 30, 2009, all name checks pending for more than 90 days and (2) completing by June 2009, 98 percent of name checks within 30 days.

The USCIS announced that the elimination of the name check backlog is an example of its commitment to making timely decisions on immigration applications and petitions while continuing to maintain the security and integrity of the U.S. immigration system.