USA IMMIGRATION NEWS

USCIS Launches Redesigned Website

Tuesday, 13 October 2009

On September 22, 2009 the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) launched a revamped website, with the specific purpose of creating a site that was more user-friendly, interactive and informative than its predecessor.

Specifically, the site was designed to leverage cutting-edge technology to reduce unnecessary paperwork, backlogs, and a lack of transparency.

The previous system allowed applicants to go online and check the status of their application if they had a receipt number. However, other than to provide an approximate processing timeframe, additional information was not available.

By contrast, the new site has been designed to keep visa applicants up-to-date regarding their case status and apart from checking online, applicants can opt to receive updates by text message or e-mail when the status of an application changes. As a result, USCIS petitions and applications are now accessible through the case status feature of the site, and include applications for naturalization and certificates of citizenship, as well as petitions related to the status of non-immigrant workers and relatives and fiancés from other nations. Additionally, the redesigned site will feature a Spanish language version for the first time.

Despite its recent launch, the site has already been declared a "significant step for our federal government in terms of providing services that are smarter, faster and lower cost," according to Jeffrey Zients, the Obama administration's chief performance officer. Mr. Zients went on to say that the government would be using the USCIS' redesigned website as a model for efforts that are under way to refresh other federal websites.

The revamped site was developed in a hurry after President Barack Obama announced on June 25, 2009 that the agency would launch the new website in 90 days.

USCIS' legacy website was one of the most-used government sites, garnering about 230,000 users per day, with approximately 2.8 million users accessing the case status page each month. However, USCIS said users of the old site found it difficult to use.

The site was revamped with an emphasis in keeping with the Obama administration's focus on transparency. To that end, the site has been designed to be customer-centric and whether the public responds to the new site favorably will be the ultimate measure of its success.

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