US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced last week in a press release that the continued reduction in the backlog in the processing of immigration benefits such as work authorization, permanent residency and naturalization.   In the latest update issued to Congress, USCIS reported the backlog, which had reached a high of 3.8 million cases in January 2004, was reduced to 1.5 million cases as of September 30, 3004.  According to USCIS, the agency has reduced the backlog by more than 2.3 million cases during fiscal year 2004. 

In all, USCIS officers competed almost 2.2 million cases during the fourth quarter while receiving nearly 1.3 million new cases.  According to the release, by completing 900,000 more cases than received, USCIS accomplished the most productive quarter in the Agency’s history.   

The latest report to Congress credits much of the backlog elimination progress to productivity increases and process refinements.  USCIS stated in the release that it is prioritizing its pending workload to ensure that applications filed by eligible applicants for whom benefits are immediately available are handled first.   

The report also noted a reduction in cycle times for a number of services and benefits.  For example, the cycle time for the Replacement of a Green Card (I-90) is now 5.4 months.  At the beginning of fiscal year 2004, the cycle time for this same service was 12.7 months.