8/29/2007

FBI name checks, one of the security screening tools used by USCIS, significantly delay adjudication of immigration benefits for many customers, hinder backlog reductions efforts, and may not achieve their intended national security objectives. Currently, USCIS conducts several security checks to: 

(1) determine whether applicants have a history of criminal or terrorist activity that would make them ineligible for a benefit; and 

(2) notify law enforcement agencies of the presence and intentions of individuals who might be of interest. 

The Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman receives numerous inquiries about FBI name check delays. During the reporting period, processing delays due to FBI name checks were an issue in 15.7 percent of all written case problems received. Stakeholder organizations and USCIS personnel across the country also regularly raise the issue of FBI name check delays as the most pervasive problem preventing completion of cases.

CASE PROBLEM: The principal applicant and his wife (the derivative beneficiary) filed their employment-based green card applications in October 2001. At the time of inquiry with the Ombudsman in March 2006, their applications remained pending due to FBI name checks.

CASE PROBLEM: An applicant filed a naturalization application in March 1999 with a USCIS service center that had jurisdiction over the case. In August 2003, USCIS transferred the application to the applicant’s local USCIS district office for the applicant to be interviewed. The interviewing officer requested additional evidence at the interview, which the applicant provided in a timely fashion. When the Ombudsman received the inquiry in April 2006, the application remained pending due to an outstanding FBI name check and additional security checks.

The FBI provides information to USCIS as a paying customer on anyone who is the principal subject of an investigation or is a person referenced in a file. USCIS adjudicators and the Fraud Detection and National Security (FDNS) unit use this information to determine if applicants are ineligible for benefits. The name checks are not sought by the FBI as part of ongoing investigations or from a need to learn more about an individual because of any threat or risk perceived by the FBI. Instead, the name checks are a fee-for-service that the FBI provides to USCIS at its request. 

Moreover, the FBI does not record any additional information about the names USCIS submits and does not routinely take any further action. Instead, the FBI reviews its files much like a credit reporting entity would verify and report on information to commercial entities requesting credit validations.

Some types of background and security checks return results within a few days and do not significantly prolong USCIS processing times or hinder backlog reduction goals. However, while the overall percentage of long-pending cases is small, as of May 2006, USCIS reported 235,802 FBI name checks pending, with approximately 65 percent (153,166) of those cases pending more than 90 days and approximately 35 percent (82,824) pending more than one year.