The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) has recently inquired with the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) as to why it has been taking so long to get Receipt Notices for applications lately. The Service has responded by stating the reasons for the delays and ways of dealing with these technical issues.
When applications are mailed to lockboxes, the first step they go through is being scanned into the USCIS electronic system. Most of the applications and petitions that go through the scanning machine are accepted, but about 20% of them cannot be registered by the machine and must be processed and receipted manually. This is the primary reason for the delays.
If you are encountering problems with a Lockbox, the easiest way to resolve them is to contact USCIS by sending an email to lockboxsupport@dhs.gov. In that email, you should clearly explain what the problem is with your case and provide basic information such as the petitioner’s and beneficiary’s or applicant’s names and dates of birth, in addition to the receipt number of the application (if known). If you do not get a response to your email in five days, then you can email the AILA liaison at lockboxliaison@aila.org with the same information that you provided in your initial email, and the liaison will contact USCIS on your behalf.
Also, with the holidays just around the corner, many of the USCIS personnel are taking time off to spend with their families. As a result, there are fewer people to process applications, and this slows the process down even further.
The full article referenced here can be found at AILA InfoNet Doc. No. 10110930 (posted Nov. 8, 2010. For more general information, please click here.
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