As everyone knows, USCIS processing times are pretty awful across the board. Everyone needs their benefit or a decision so they can move forward with their lives. Waiting is awful. Today, I want to discuss two expedite requests our office put in and how they played out.
As a reminder, USCIS can expedite a case for these reasons:
- Severe financial loss to a company or person.
- Emergency situations.
- Humanitarian reasons.
- A nonprofit organization’s request in furtherance of the cultural and social interests of the United States.
- U.S. government interests (e.g., cases identified as urgent by federal agencies).
- Clear USCIS error.
Now, almost everyone feels as though their situation is one of the first three. However, I have to explain that thousands of people are waiting for their work cards and just saying you need to work, by itself isn’t enough to rise to the expedite request. Everyone needs their work card – what makes your situation different? Are you the only one in the household working? Will you be evicted from your home if you’re not working?Â
Or for expedited travel permission, everyone wants to return home to see an elderly parent or grandparent. But, what makes your need to travel more compelling? Is someone hospitalized or recently diagnosed with a terminal illness? As awful as it is to talk about, the worse the situation is, the more likely an expedite will be granted.
Currently, it’s taking around ten years to get an asylum interview scheduled. In late 2023, I put in an expedite request for a client. The Arlington Asylum Office called and said they could expedite her case, but she would have to come to Arlington for the interview. Typically, Arlington Asylum Officers come to Atlanta once a month to conduct interviews and our clients are able to stay here in town. But, to get a quicker interview, our client had to be willing to travel. She decided to go to Arlington. She had her interview in January, which is great, but we’re still waiting for a decision. So in some ways, the expedite helped because we got one step done, but it didn’t help us get to a final resolution quickly.
Last week, I had a client contact me saying her employer was going to terminate her job if she didn’t produce a work permit that was valid past the September expiration date. The client had a work permit based on her approved VAWA case, but when we filed for her green card earlier this year, we filed for a work permit based on the pending green card. This meant that although she had a pending work card, she didn’t get an automatic extension like so many others do because the underlying cases were different. I was able to contact USCIS, explained the situation, and provided a letter from the employer that said the client’s employment would be terminated. It took two weeks, but USCIS agreed to expedite and the next day, the work card was approved.
It doesn’t hurt to ask for an expedite (though I would only do it once – not ask repeatedly without new evidence). But, before thinking about an expedite, it’s important to articulate why you need a decision faster than everyone who is ahead of you. You need to get evidence to show why your need is so strong. Even if the expedite is granted, though, it may just expedite one part of the process, but not get you to a decision any quicker.
If you feel like you need a case expedited, we’d be happy to talk with you to see if you qualify.