INS Extends Fingerprint Submission Period

In a move that could spare further delays for hundreds of thousands of citizenship applicants in Los Angeles and elsewhere, Immigration and Naturalization Service Commissioner Doris Meissner said Tuesday that officials will extend by up to nine months the validity of fingerprints submitted by citizenship applicants.

Meissner unveiled the change--extending prints’ validity from 15 months to up to 24 months after FBI background checks--during a trip to Los Angeles to inaugurate the agency’s first fingerprinting office in Southern California.

Concerned about fraud, error and inefficiency, Congress last year directed the INS to take over the fingerprint duties that previously were handled by one-hour photo shops and other private concerns.

Accurate fingerprints are a linchpin of the citizenship system, especially at a time when record numbers of people are seeking to become citizens. Applicants’ prints are sent to the FBI to determine if they may be ineligible because of past offenses. The INS currently considers the prints good for 15 months after results come back from the FBI.

Meissner vowed the 15-month rule “will be relaxed,” adding that a formal announcement would be forthcoming shortly.

INS officials are pledging superior fingerprint service--including the use of computers that scan prints without use of ink--although authorities concede some problems are likely at first.

But immigrant representatives worry about even greater delays at a time when backlogs are growing--especially in the Los Angeles area, which accounts for one-quarter of the 1.6 million people now in the bulging naturalization queues.

In the Los Angeles area alone, officials said, 200,000 applicants were nearing or had exceeded the 15-month threshold, raising the probability that they will have to wait in line for new fingerprints. The INS’ decision to extend the validity of fingerprints up to 24 months failed to allay concerns about new delays.

“This is just another Band-Aid,” said Susan Alva, an attorney with Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, who noted that the 24-month deadline is already closing in on many applicants.

Meissner was joined by area lawmakers, including Mayor Richard J. Riordan, in opening the new INS fingerprint center in Little Tokyo--one of 12 such facilities that the agency plans to open in the Los Angeles area. The new sites will replace more than 400 private facilities.

Riordan said police stations would also be assisting the INS in taking fingerprints.

As if to underline the urgency of the fingerprint issue, a line of more than 100 fingerprint-seekers waited outside the center. Some had begun their vigil before dawn.