To reduce the backlog in the processing of immigration benefit applications and to make improvements to infrastructure necessary for the effective provision of immigration services, and for other purposes. The dramatic increase in applications for naturalization and the inability of the Immigration and Naturalization Service to deal with them adequately has resulted in an unacceptably large backlog in naturalization adjudications. The processing times in the Immigration and Naturalization Service's other immigration benefits have been unacceptably long. In Texas, the delays have averaged 69 months. Most other States have experienced unacceptably long processing and adjudication delays.
Applicants pay fees to have their applications adjudicated in a timely manner.
These fees have increased dramatically in recent years without a commensurate increase in the capability of that Immigration and Naturalization Service to process and adjudicate these cases in an efficient manner. Each 12-month delay in adjudicating an adjustment of status application requires the alien to file applications to extend employment authorization to work and advance parole documents to travel. The enormous delays in processing applications for families and businesses have had a negative impact on the reunification of spouses and minor children and the ability of law-abiding and contributing members of our communities to participate fully in the civic life of the United States. These delays have forced employers to send highly skilled and valued employees out of the United States because their immigrant petitions were not approved in a timely fashion. Such disruptions seriously threaten the competitive edge of the United States in the global marketplace.