< back
INS REPORTS PROGRESS IN REDUCING NATURALIZATION BACKLOG
The INS has released a report on its progress in reducing the national backlog of naturalization cases. According to the INS, although the agency continues to have problems related to reforming the entire naturalization process, there has been an improvement in processing speeds and the INS is "beginning to see positive outcomes." 
The INS believes it has made a substantial step in restoring the integrity of the application system by its taking over of the fingerprinting process. The agency has been under fire for the last two years as the result of its inadvertent naturalization of several thousand convicted criminals ineligible for citizenship. The INS has now opened more than 100 fingerprinting sites across the country to handle the fingerprinting process. 
As far as reducing backlogs, the agency reports that it completed 238,067 naturalization applications between October and December 1998. This is nearly double the number adjudicated in the same period in 1997 and a 16% increase over the June through September 1998 period. The agency also reports that an increasingly large number of applicants are clearing the fingerprinting stage of the naturalization process. From August 1998 to November 1998, the number of naturalization applicants fingerprinted increased 62% and the number of fingerprints rejected by the FBI for being unreadable declined from 14.3% to 6.7% between the last fiscal year and the beginning of the current fiscal year. Finally, the agency reports a 32% increase in the number of naturalization interviews conducted in the five biggest INS offices. These offices handle nearly two-thirds of all naturalization applications filed across the country.
The INS has reported some troubling signs, however. First, as we indicated a few months ago after interviewing an INS District Director on the subject of naturalization, a number of INS offices are having difficulty hiring and retaining employees to work naturalization cases. The INS is attempting to alleviate this problem by deploying 200 adjudicators to cities with the largest pending caseloads. The INS is also studying the reasons for the turnover rate.
A number of technology problems have arisen that have slowed processing, though the INS claims to have them all resolved. One problem involved the interface between the INS regional offices and the fingerprint centers' fingerprint scheduling systems.