A shorter wait for citizenship

Agency head says background check to be streamlined

Jonathan Scharfen, acting director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services, met with 100 immigration advocates and state and federal workers during a visit to Boston yesterday. (Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff)

Immigrants whose applications for US citizenship or legal residency languished for years because of delays with FBI background checks should wait no longer than a year by November, a top federal immigration official said yesterday.

By next June, 98 percent of new background checks should be finished in 30 days, and the remaining 2 percent will take no more than 90 days, Jonathan Scharfen, acting director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services, told 100 advocates for immigrants and state and federal workers during a visit to Boston.

A federal audit in June found that since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks thousands of immigrants were waiting years for a decision on their applications in part because the FBI was relying on outdated technology and poorly trained workers.

"I know that it's affected people's lives and that the vast majority of people caught up in that process were good people," Scharfen said in the John F. Kennedy Federal Building. "We are committed to doing this well."

Still, he acknowledged an audience member's concern that federal officers are still taking several years to decide a case even after the FBI check is completed.

"The experience you just described should not be happening," he said. Once the FBI check is completed, he said, the immigration officer should "make a decision, one way or the other."

He said the agency is also improving processing times for citizenship and helping hundreds of local organizations prepare immigrants for a new US citizenship test in October.

Last budget year, 26,000 citizenship applications were processed in Boston; this year that number will surpass 32,000. Completing citizenship applications in Boston is expected to take nearly nine months by September, but the immigration agency's goal is to reduce the processing time to five months in Boston and nationwide by January.

"Boston has been performing well in a difficult situation," Scharfen said. However, he made clear that the agency is in transition nationwide.

Last summer, the agency raised application fees in part to modernize its largely paper-based system.

Advocates for immigrants at the meeting praised the progress the agency has made, but cautioned that immigrants are still struggling to pay the fee hikes imposed last summer, prepare for the new citizenship test, and navigate the complex process to apply for legal residency and citizenship.

"My impression truly is that they are trying to do the best that they can do," said Heloisa Galvão, a cofounder of the Brazilian Women's Group, based in Allston. But she added that it is important for federal officials to understand how difficult the process is for immigrants.

"If they're really interested in people becoming citizens they should make the process easier," she said.

Maria Sacchetti can be reached at msacchetti@globe.com.