Readout of National Public Engagement on Backlog Reduction

WASHINGTON – Today U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Ur M. Jaddou and agency leadership participated in a virtual public engagement with nearly 2,000 stakeholders nationwide to discuss the agency’s efforts to reduce backlogs and improve processing times.

Director Jaddou briefed participants on the agency’s priorities, including ensuring the agency’s fiscal health and increasing our hiring, and emphasized USCIS’ commitment to delivering timely decisions to those we serve in order to make the nation’s immigration system more fair and humane.

USCIS Senior Counselor Dan Renaud and Senior Advisor Doug Rand updated participants on the agency’s recently announced initiatives to use all available regulatory, policy, and operational tools to reduce backlogs and processing times, including the expansion of premium processing, providing timely access to employment authorization documents, and the further reduction of the agency’s pending caseload. Identifying and implementing greater efficiencies across our processes, including through technology improvements, will speed up adjudications while ensuring the integrity of the legal immigration system.

USCIS leadership also fielded questions and took feedback from the public to help inform the agency’s efforts moving forward.

USCIS continues to increase the size and scope of our public engagement efforts as part of the agency’s commitment to increasing transparency, reducing barriers, and restoring confidence in our nation’s immigration system.”