News Update - September 11, 2009

By Alan Lee, Esq.^†‡

Get Text Message and Email Updates from the USCIS Website

On September 22, 2009 the USCIS will launch its new more user friendly website. In response to user frustration the USCIS has redesigned its website to allow for easier navigation and search compatibility. The new site will allow you to check your case status online and receive email and text message updates as your case progresses. In addition, you will be able to check national processing times and volumes online to calculate how long each step in the process should take.

You can visit uscis.gov now to view a preview of the redesigned site. Simply click on the countdown calendar at uscis.gov and then select mock-up or overview to get a feel for what the redesigned site will be like.

“Today I'm pleased to announce a new collaboration between my Chief Information Officer, my Chief Performance Officer, my Chief Technologies Officer and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Office to make the agency much more efficient, much more transparent, much more user-friendly than it has been in the past.”
-President Obama

† The author is a 26+ year practitioner of immigration law based in New York City. He was awarded the Sidney A. Levine prize for best legal writing at the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in 1977 and has written extensively on immigration over the past years for the ethnic newspapers, World Journal, Sing Tao, Pakistan Calling, Muhasha and OCS. He has testified as an expert on immigration in civil court proceedings and was recognized by the Taiwan government in 1985 for his work protecting human rights. His article, "The Bush Temporary Worker Proposal and Comparative Pending Legislation: an Analysis" was Interpreter Releases' cover display article at the American Immigration Lawyers Association annual conference in 2004, and his victory in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in a case of first impression nationwide, Firstland International v. INS, successfully challenged INS' policy of over 40 years of revoking approved immigrant visa petitions under a nebulous standard of proof. Its value as precedent, however, was short-lived as it was specifically targeted by the Administration in the Intelligence Reform Act of 2004.

‡ This article © 2009 Alan Lee, Esq.

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The information provided here is of a general nature and may not apply to any particular set of facts or circumstances. It should not be construed as legal advice and does not constitute an engagement of the Law Office of Alan Lee or establish an attorney-client relationship.