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INS AUDIT WILL CAUSE PROCESSING DELAYS
The INS has announced that over the next week all agency offices, including the four regional service centers, will be conducting an audit in which all forms in the agency’s possession will be inventoried.  Because this involves opening every file at each office, there will be a virtual halt in all application processing.  The only cases that will continue to be processed during this time are applications for adjustment of status in which there is a child who is about to age out – become to old to immigrate with their parents.  Service Centers are expected to resume processing after a week or so, but there is great variation in the impact the audit will have at the District Offices.  Some say that no cases will be processed for more than a month following the audit.

The audit, technically called a deferred revenue audit, is being conducted so that the INS can determine the amount in fees that would have been collected with all the pending forms.  It will then recapture that amount from the user fee account to attempt to cover the cost of adjudicating the pending applications.

This is only a practice audit.  Another, smaller scale, audit was conducted last May.  The final audit will be conducted in September, and a similar processing delay should be expected at that time. 
 
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