Within DHS, USCIS is responsible for adjudicating immigration benefit applications, including I-129Fs filed by U.S. citizens to bring a foreign national fiancé(e) to the United States through a K-1 visa. If the K-1 visa is issued, the INA provides that the petitioner and fiancé(e) must marry within 90 days of the fiancé(e)’s admission into the country, after which the K-1 visa expires. The I-129F petition can also be used to bring a noncitizen spouse to the United States under a K-3 visa while awaiting the approval of an immigrant petition and availability of an immigrant visa. Noncitizen fiancé(e)s, upon marriage to the petitioner, and noncitizen spouses who are admitted to the United States must then apply to adjust their status to lawful permanent resident by filing with USCIS a Form I-485, called an Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status. In fiscal year 2013, USCIS approved 30,400 I-129F petitions and State issued 30,290 K visas. general, has declined since fiscal year 2008, with the exception of fiscal year 2011, during which there was a slight increase over the previous fiscal year. USCIS approved the majority of I-129F petitions submitted from fiscal year 2008 through fiscal year 2013 (see fig. 1). The number of I-129F petitions approved in a fiscal year will not equal numbers of K visas issued in the same fiscal year because, for example, State may adjudicate the visa applications in a subsequent fiscal year. Both USCIS and State’s Bureau of Consular Affairs play key roles in providing information about petitioners to beneficiaries. In accordance with IMBRA, once a USCIS officer approves an I-129F petition, USCIS must forward the approved I-129F petition and relevant information to State, which mails to the beneficiary these materials and the IMBRA pamphlet—an informational document that outlines the legal rights and resources for immigrant victims of domestic violence. According to State’s FAM, consular officers must also discuss the pamphlet and petitioners’ criminal history information during the K visa applicant interview to ensure that the beneficiary understands his or her legal rights and access to victim services in the United States and has available information about the petitioner. IMBRA also establishes disclosure and other requirements for IMBs to help inform and provide greater assurance for the safety of beneficiaries who meet their potential U.S. citizen petitioners through an IMB. For example, IMBRA requires that IMBs collect specified information, such as criminal arrest and conviction information, from petitioners for disclosure, and obtain written approval from beneficiaries before releasing beneficiaries’ contact information to potential petitioners. DOJ is responsible for pursuing civil and criminal penalties under IMBRA and, pursuant to the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013, was required to report to Congress on, among other things, the policies and procedures for consulting with DHS and State in investigating and prosecuting IMBRA violations by petitioners and IMBs. USCIS has implemented processes to collect information from petitioners; however, USCIS is in the process of revising the current version of the I- 129F petition to address errors or limitations that may limit or otherwise affect the accuracy of petitioners’ disclosure to USCIS of all information required by IMBRA. The I-129F petition, along with any supporting documentation submitted by the petitioner, is USCIS’s primary source for information on petitioners’ prior I-129F petition filings and criminal convictions—key information that the U.S. government is required under IMBRA to obtain and disclose to beneficiaries. In particular, USCIS uses the information disclosed through the I-129F petition to (1) inform its criminal background checks of petitioners, and (2) determine if petitioners have filed prior I-129F petitions and are requesting one of the three IMBRA waivers, as appropriate. Conducting background checks on petitioners. Pursuant to IMBRA, USCIS conducts criminal background checks on each petitioner using the information provided on the I-129F petition. Specifically, according to USCIS’s standard operating procedures, USCIS officers are to conduct background checks using petitioners’ names and dates of birth against the TECS database within 15 days of receiving I-129F petitions. During a background check, if a TECS query returns a “hit,” USCIS officers are to forward this information to the background check unit located within each service center for further review. According to USCIS service center officials, the completeness of the criminal background information contained within TECS is dependent on the extent to which state and local law enforcement agencies enter complete information into the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) National Crime Information Center database (NCIC). USCIS is to subsequently provide this information to State, whose consular officers are to share this information with beneficiaries during the K visa interview. When sharing this information with the beneficiaries, consular officers must also inform them that the criminal background information is based on available records and may not be complete, something the IMBRA pamphlet also notes. Consistent with IMBRA, the waivers for filing limits apply only to K-1 petitioners. See § 1184(d). officers are to request that the petitioner provide the aforementioned waiver request letter and supporting evidence before deciding whether to approve or deny the petition. USCIS may deny a waiver request if the petitioner fails to provide sufficient documentation in support of the waiver within 12 weeks, or if the documentation provided does not justify granting a waiver. USCIS officers may also deny an I-129F petition if they discover that a petitioner does not, for example, fully disclose an IMBRA-specified offense conviction or protective order information. According to USCIS’s standard operating procedures, USCIS officers are to use the information obtained from the background check, CLAIMS 3 data on prior filings, and the I-129F petition and supporting evidence to determine if petitioners have disclosed all of the information required by IMBRA. However, the I-129F petition contains errors and omissions that we, USCIS, and DOJ have identified and that may limit or affect the accuracy of information disclosed by a petitioner. Specifically, the I-129F petition inaccurately describes IMBRA’s filing limits and does not fully address IMBRA’s disclosure requirements. In particular, the language on the I-129F petition states that the filing limits apply to petitioners who have filed three or more I-129F petitions, or who have filed three or more I-129F petitions and the first I-129F petition was approved within the last 2 years, whereas the instruction accompanying the I-129F petition aligns more closely with IMBRA and provides that a waiver is required if a prior I-129F petition had been approved in the past 2 years. USCIS Service Center Operations officials stated the I-129F petition does not accurately describe the filing limits and therefore there is a risk that petitioners are disclosing inaccurate information regarding their filing history on the I- 129F petition, which may affect how USCIS evaluates whether a petitioner requires a waiver. In October 2014, in response to our audit work, USCIS modified its website to inform petitioners that the petition is inaccurate and provide them with instructions that clarify the requirements. In addition, DOJ officials responsible for enforcing IMBRA stated that they have been working with USCIS on revisions to the I-129F petition to better ensure that IMBRA’s disclosure requirements are met. For example, USCIS Service Center Operations officials noted that, in consultation with DOJ, they plan to include questions on the I-129F petition regarding whether petitioners have civil protective or restraining orders, and prior arrests or convictions related to prostitution. According to USCIS Service Center Operations officials, as of August 2014, USCIS has been in the process of revising the current version of the I-129F petition. According to A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, which provides standards for project managers, specific goals and objectives should be conceptualized, defined, and documented in the planning process, along with the appropriate steps, time frames, and milestones needed to achieve those results. USCIS Service Center Operations officials stated that there is no target time frame for completing revisions to the I-129F petition within USCIS before DHS and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) undertake their respective reviews, in part because of the interagency review process among DHS, State, and DOJ, which was ongoing for approximately 10 months as of August 2014. USCIS officials noted that until revisions to the I-129F petition are complete, petitioners can refer to the Form I-129F Instructions, which USCIS makes available as a separate document, or to the clarifying instructions added to its website in October 2014, and USCIS officers should follow the I-129F SOP, each of which more accurately describe IMBRA’s filing limits and circumstances under which a waiver must be requested. However, USCIS officials acknowledged that petitioners may not use the instructions in completing the I-129F petition since they are contained in a separate document and are not referred to on the I-129F petition. Further, as we discuss later in this report, our review of CLAIMS 3 data indicates that USCIS officers have not consistently followed the I-129F SOP, which USCIS has modified multiple times since the summer of 2013 to address, among other things, inaccuracies in the language associated with the application of IMBRA waivers. USCIS has previously revised the I-129F petition.