INS Will Increase Staff to Help Clear Backlog
A backlog of 400,000 cases has prompted the Immigration and Naturalization Service to increase its staff of interviewers by 40%, the agency announced Wednesday.
By Oct. 1, the INS will add 56 new employees to interview applicants and process paperwork, said Thomas J. Schiltgen, district director in Los Angeles. The first new staffers, who will complement an existing corps of 140, will start in the coming weeks, he said.
The seven-county Los Angeles district leads the nation in citizenship applications. The INS here will receive more than a quarter of 200 new people to be hired nationwide. Congress funded the new positions as part of a $176-million citizenship improvement package passed last year.
Long delays have choked the citizenship process since late 1996. Some applications have languished for two years or more. The entire process is supposed to take six months, INS officials say.
The delays have deterred many people from applying for citizenship, according to community activists.
The number of citizenship applications nationwide plunged by more than 50% in the most recent fiscal year.
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