Sam H. Chang and Mark A. Mancini named "Top Lawyers" by Washingtonian Magazine.

Washington DC (December 5, 2007)

Washingtonian Magazine has published their listing of the best lawyers in the DC Metro area. We are proud to annouce that Sam H. Chang and Mark A. Mancini were named by Washingtonian Magazine as the top immigration lawyers in the region (page 146). They join an elite group as the top one percent in the field of law and as the top immigration lawyers in the region.

This is the fifth time that Washingtonian has complied their list of top lawyers. They use a peer-review system in which they contacted 1,000 attorneys and asked them who the top practioners in their field were and whom they would hire to represent them in that fied. The top-rated 800 lawyers represent what Washingtonian estimates is an elite one percent of the approximately 80,000 attorneys working in private practice in the DC Metro region.

Secretary Chertoff Advises of Changes in FBI Name Check Clearance Process

"AILA InfoNet Doc. No. 07113061 (posted Nov. 30, 2007)" http://www.aila.org/infonet

In a meeting with AILA and other organizations, DHS Secretary Chertoff indicated that USCIS and the FBI are changing parts of the name check process, with the expected result that a large proportion of the backlog should be cleared within six months. The changes are consistent with Secretary Chertoff's risk management approach. The Secretary hopes that, in addition to clearing the backlog, a large percentage of the kinds of applications and situations that have previously been caught in name check delays will, in the future, be cleared quickly. However, he cautions that some checks still will be delayed by investigations, but that that number should represent a small proportion of the numbers previously delayed.

Advisory on Processing Times

USCIS has received a significant increase in the number of applications filed. In July and August, nearly 2.5 million applications and petitions of all types were received. This compares to 1.2 million applications and petitions received in the same time period last year. This fiscal year, we received 1.4 million applications for naturalization; nearly double the volume we received the year before. The agency is working to improve processes and focus increased resources, including hiring approximately 1,500 new employees, to address this workload.

As a result, average processing times for certain application types may grow longer. In particular, naturalization applications filed after June 1, 2007 may take approximately 16-18 months to process.

USCIS has several informational services to keep you apprised of the agency's progress. We encourage you to take advantage of information posted on our website and to create and monitor your profile in our Case Status Online system to properly track your case. http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis

We will continue to provide additional information on application processing times as it becomes available.

Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill

The CIR is simply a Bill right now and will not become law until it is passed by both the House of Representatives and the Senate AND the President signs it. To learn more about how a bill becomes a law, please watch this informative video by Schoolhouse Rock.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouZTIqcvb30

The CIR bill has died in the Senate due to lack of votes. There is no indication that it will be re-introduced this year or next year. We have heard some talk that a few Senators may try to re-introduce individual components of the CIR bill, however, there has been no confirmation of this yet.