According to the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), DHS Secretary Chertoff indicated that USCIS and the FBI are changing parts of the name check process, with the expected result that a large proportion of the backlog should be cleared within six months. The Secretary hopes that, in addition to clearing the backlog, most of the kinds of applications and situations that have previously been caught in name check delays will, in the future, be cleared quickly. However, he cautions that some checks still will be delayed by investigations, but that that number should represent a small proportion of the numbers previously delayed. If your I-485 or other application is caught in the name check web, this is great news.
AILA InfoNet Doc. No. 07113061 (posted Nov. 30, 2007)
By Ann Massey Badmus