In a recent AP News story, Texas Service Center Deputy Director, Kristie Barrows reports that petitions for green cards have declined significantly since 2007. She states that in fiscal year 2007, almost 235,000 petitions for permanent residence were submitted to USCIS. In 2008, only 104,000 were filed and in the first eight months of 2009, only 36,000 were submitted. Why? Brown attributes this in part to the recession which has caused some foreign workers to leave the US for Europe, India, and Asia to seek better job prospects. Though only briefly mentioned in Barrows’ interview, part of the decreased volume is due to retrogressed priority dates that limit when foreign workers in the green card process can submit applications for permanent residence. One benefit of the decreased volume is that with the increased staff at USCIS service centers, processing times have been “trimmed” and are near the agency’s target processing timeframes.
Barrows admits that “we want people to come to our country who are the best.” Will Congress listen and work towards immigration reform with concessions for “the best”? Only time will tell…
http://content.usatoday.net/dist/custom/gci/InsidePage.aspx?cId=azcentral&sParam=31322825.story