Delays to process immigration forms cause ‘bureaucratic nightmare’ at Lincoln center

In a press release, USADefend LLC of Lakewood, Colorado, said the filing of the complaint in U.S. District Court of Nebraska in Lincoln, marks a critical milestone in their efforts to address the “appalling delays” in I-601A waiver processing.

Lead attorney Christian Frank Fas said they are deeply concerned about the detrimental impact these delays have on their clients’ lives.

“Families are kept apart, careers put on hold, and dreams deferred indefinitely due to the excessive processing times. Our goal is to hold USCIS accountable and seek a resolution that ensures the timely adjudication of I-601A waivers,” he said. 

Fas said through the lawsuit that attorneys aim to compel USCIS to promptly adjudicate pending applications and bring relief to individuals and families affected by the delays.

According to the complaint, USCIS has approved visa applications filed on behalf of each of the seven, but they now are waiting on the agency to decide whether to approve their applications for a provisional waiver, a required next step before they can be set for their consular appointment abroad.

“They cannot work and remain susceptible to removal from the United States while waiting for a decision on their waiver applications,” Fas said in the lawsuit. 

While they wait, the seven — all immediate relatives of a U.S. citizen or a legal permanent resident — are living in Texas, South Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, New Jersey and Florida. 

Fas said the delays in processing I-601A waivers have reached a critical point, with wait times exceeding three years. 

In 2018, the Nebraska Service Center in Lincoln processed the applications within 4½ months but now takes an average of three years and eight months, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The Potomac Service Center in Arlington, Virginia — the only other place that processes the forms — has the same wait time. 

Fas said that without a return to timely historical processing, the plaintiffs cannot finalize the process to become lawful permanent U.S. residents.

All seven have had applications pending for more than a year. 

In the lawsuit, Fas said, USCIS received 9,349 1-601A provisional unlawful presence waiver applications and completed only 1,290 of them during the fourth quarter of the 2022 fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, 2022, leaving 121,793 applications still pending.

He said USADefend LLC remains steadfast in its pursuit of a resolution that upholds the principles of fairness and efficiency within the immigration system and aims to compel USCIS to address the delays promptly and ensure the timely processing of I-601A waivers.

Attorneys for the government haven’t yet responded to the lawsuit. But they are seeking dismissal of a similar case filed in Washington state in January on behalf of 299 noncitizens with pending I-601A forms seeking class-action status. 

They described several ways the COVID-19 pandemic has affected processing times of the Form I-601A applications, including pandemic-related closures and capacity restrictions, which caused unprecedented appointment backlogs for all requests involving biometric services appointments.