Why Is My Immigration Case Taking So Long?
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One of the common complaints about the immigration process is it takes a long time to complete the process. It does not matter what immigration benefit one seeks; chances are you are going to wait for a long time, sometimes years, before you get the benefit you seek. The question many ask is why does it take so long to go through the immigration process to obtain a benefit?
At Kriezelman Burton & Associates, LLC, we get asked this question all the time. This blog has some of the information we give our clients in the Chicago area to answer that question, and we hope it will answer yours as well.
The following are some reasons why your immigration case might be taking so long:
Visa availability. If you are applying for a family or employment-based preference category petition, then you are likely to wait for a long time before your green card is approved. This is because the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has a huge backlog of these types of applications. These backlog delays are even worse for certain family categories, such as brothers and sisters of U.S. citizens who must wait for more than 15 years to get their green cards.
Applicants for green cards from certain countries, such as China, must also wait longer than everyone else to get their green cards.
Complexity in Processing. As a government agency, USCIS has a form application for everything. This makes the agency paperwork heavy, and often, paperwork for related cases is disconnected, leading to delays as those files must be cross-referenced before a final decision is made. In some cases where the cross-reference is not necessary, a file for one family member may be processed and completed faster than one for the other relative simply because the immigration officer handling the second file has their own individual backlog.
Covid. USCIS is still recovering from massive delays caused by the Covid pandemic. Although there has been a significant improvement in processing times since Covid dissipated, USCIS still has delays caused by this unprecedented national crisis.
Insufficient Evidence. Some delays are caused by the filing of petitions or applications without the required evidence to fully evaluate the case. In this case, the immigration officer may require additional evidence, and this causes more delays. When one responds to the request and provides the requested additional evidence, the file may not be seen by the officer for a long time because of their own individual backlog.
Mistakes and Errors. It is bad enough that there are delays in the immigration system because of the backlogs. However, those delays are made even worse by the submission of incomplete paperwork or paperwork with mistakes or errors. USCIS routinely rejects or denies petitions and applications that have mistakes or errors. Correcting those mistakes or errors and refiling the paperwork significantly adds to the already long processing time.
Delays are inevitable with immigration processing. However, you can improve your chances of avoiding unnecessary delays by having an immigration lawyer such as the ones we have at Kriezelman Burton & Associates, LLC to help you in making sure your case is processed without unnecessary delay.
If your case has taken a long time to process or to avoid unnecessary delays, contact our office to schedule an appointment to discuss how we can help you.
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Kevin Raica literally saved my life. He helped me out of a dangerous situation that my previous attorney had put me in. After 17 years without status and 6.5 years of working with my previous attorney, I had experienced so many denials that I had completely lost hope. When I met Kevin, everything changed. He genuinely cared about my situation and gave me hope when I couldn’t see any for…
We sincerely thank the entire team for the professionalism, responsiveness, patience, and dedication shown throughout our case. From our very first visit, Justin reassured us that everything would be all right. Thank you, Khiabett, for your expertise, professionalism, and calm guidance before and during the interview, which greatly reduced our stress and gave us confidence. We also deeply appreciate Kamila's hard work, patience, and responsiveness throughout the process. For sorting…
I would like to sincerely thank Attorney Justin Burton and PL Kamila Lada for support with my adjustment of status case. I have been working with the firm for over a year now, and I have received nothing short of exceptional services and support throughout various cases for myself and family members. Highly recommend consulting and retaining this firm.
We have been in the dark with our case for over 2 decades, while working with other big firms who just kept me in the dark and sat on our case without making any effort to move it forward until I met the wonderful team at Kriezelman & Burton. AO and JP are truly God-sent angels who with their knowledge, collaboration, sense of direction and outside the box thinking, managed…
Highly recommend attorney Kevin Raica and attorney Agata Bigdanowicz. They were super helpful, responded on time, and won my case in record time. It took about a month and half in total for me to get my approval after filing!
Brittni Rivera and her team (Carina Lopez) are fantastic! They are responsive, efficient and beyond compassionate. Brittni Rivera and her team treated me with dignity and respect as they patiently answered all of my questions. They didn't move on without making sure I understood each step. Their work ethic was impressive. It felt like they were an extension of my personal team. I can't say enough to convey my gratitude…
We hoped and prayed for this day, not knowing if it would ever come. Deportations are incredibly scary and overwhelming. We wanted to give a very special thank you to Jennifer Peyton of Chicago for securing this victory for us! With Jennifer on our side we were able to get our loved one back. On behalf of our family, thank you. When we started this journey, we had hoped and…
Matthew Kriezelman, first of all, thank you very much; you and your team are the best immigration lawyers in Chicago. I had a great experience—your professionalism was outstanding, and you were always there whenever needed. I give you five stars for the wonderful work you and your team did. Thanks again.
Hay momentos en la vida en los que una familia siente que el mundo se detiene. Nosotros vivimos uno de esos momentos y, en medio de la incertidumbre y el miedo, tuvimos la fortuna de encontrar a la abogada Sheila McNulty y al paralegal Rafael Rodríguez . Nos escucharon con empatía, nos guiaron con paciencia y defendieron nuestro caso con un profesionalismo, una dedicación y una calidad humana realmente excepcionales.…
We would like to take a moment to sincerely thank Khiabett for her exceptional work and dedication in handling my husband’s removal proceedings case. We also want to thank Agata for her great communication during the gathering of all documents. Khiabett we are incredibly grateful for your expertise, guidance, and persistence throughout the entire process. I can't thank you enough for your empathy and standing by me during such a…
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