Work Permit Delays: What Can You Do When USCIS Takes Too Long?
A client has been waiting 9 months on a work permit that used to take 90 days.
He asked what else we can do. Here's the honest list:
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First, the delay is real, and it isn't just him. This week, I checked the posted processing time for a work permit based on a pending adjustment of status. It says 12 months. Two years ago, 2 to 3 months was normal.
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So here's what's actually available when a case stalls:
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1. A case inquiry with USCIS. We start here, but you may not even be eligible to submit one yet. USCIS generally only allows inquiries once a case has passed its posted processing time. If the posted timeline is longer than the time you've been waiting, the online inquiry option may not be available at all.
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When an inquiry is accepted, the response often just confirms that the case is pending and nothing is needed from you. And once an inquiry is open, there's a 30-day window where you can't submit another one. Calling USCIS often gets you the same answer.
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2. A congressional inquiry. Every congressional office has a page on its website for help with federal agencies. You fill out a privacy release, which lets the office contact USCIS about your case. In my experience, an inquiry from a government office has the potential to get a different kind of response than one from an attorney.
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The request generally needs to come from the constituent, the person who lives in that district. I can help prepare the summary of what's going on, but the constituent needs to submit the request through their congressional office.
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3. The CIS Ombudsman's office. This is another potential route for certain immigration case problems. The Department of Homeland Security has a case assistance process, but there are eligibility requirements, and it's not a guaranteed way to speed up a case. You can review the requirements here: https://lnkd.in/evpSRQ-P
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The thing I say most often now is that you have to go into a case expecting it to take a long time, and build your plans around that instead of around the timeline from two years ago.
