With Paperwork Locked Underground, Thousands of U.S. Citizenship Applicants Wait and Wait (merged)

[Mike E 11,722]

https://www.wsj.com/articles/with-paperwork-locked-underground-thousands-of-u-s-citizenship-applicants-wait-and-wait-11643025603

 

As of September 2021, more than 350,000 requests for immigration histories were pending with the National Archives and Records Administration, which oversees the Federal Records Centers in Kansas City, though not all of those requests were for pending citizenship applications.

…

 

After several inquiries from The Wall Street Journal, the National Archives and Records Administration said in a statement that it has kept staff levels at 25% at its Kansas City facility because it is “an area of high transmission.” But last week, the agency said, it began splitting work into two shifts to respond to more requests and allow a small number of staff from the citizenship agency to retrieve their own files. It also urged the citizenship agency to hasten its transition to electronic filing.

[mw2018 14]

Shawntel Went expected pandemic-related delays when she applied for U.S. citizenship in May 2020. But as months slipped by and friends who had applied for their citizenship after she did were approved, she started to worry.

 

Finally, earlier this month, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services offered Ms. Went an explanation: The paperwork it needed to complete her application was stuck in one of several government storage facilities known as Federal Records Centers. Those centers, miles-long networks of man-made limestone caves built beneath the Kansas City metro area, were largely closed due to Covid-19 and had no immediate plans to reopen.

 

Without that paperwork, which contains Ms. Went’s complete immigration history since she moved to the U.S. from Barbados in 2011, the citizenship agency can’t approve her application.

 

The government, she said, told her there was no solution. “They don’t want to open the office to go and get it,” she said. “It doesn’t make any sense.”

 

Ms. Went isn’t the only one in bureaucratic limbo. As of this month, more than 350,000 requests for immigration histories were pending with the National Archives and Records Administration, which oversees the Federal Records Centers in Kansas City, though not all of those requests were for pending citizenship applications.

 

In a statement, USCIS acknowledged that a backlog of file requests had occurred because of operating restrictions at the records centers, and said “the agency is in constant communication with NARA to assist them in whatever way is needed, including offering USCIS staff to assist in procuring files.”

 

Read more here:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/with-paperwork-locked-underground-thousands-of-u-s-citizenship-applicants-wait-and-wait-11643025603

 

Edited January 24, 2022 by millefleur
Edited for TOS Fair Use rules

[STurcotte77 40]

Was this published somewhere?

Just asking because I know a group of us were wondering if some media coverage would help?   

[mw2018 14]

1 minute ago, STurcotte77 said:

Was this published somewhere?

Just asking because I know a group of us were wondering if some media coverage would help?   

https://www.wsj.com/articles/with-paperwork-locked-underground-thousands-of-u-s-citizenship-applicants-wait-and-wait-11643025603

[JeanneAdil 6,190]

https://www.archives.gov/frc/operating-status

 

 

[Coco&Kitten 42]

Thanks for this information @mw2018!!  Something, we all knew, but now is on the media, more coverage is needed.

[yuna628 9,527]

From the WSJ this morning. Thousands of US citizenship documents are apparently locked in an underground vault which has been closed since the pandemic, with no plans to reopen it....

 

Quote

Shawntel Went expected pandemic-related delays when she applied for U.S. citizenship in May 2020. But as months slipped by and friends who had applied for their citizenship after she did were approved, she started to worry.

Finally, earlier this month, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services offered Ms. Went an explanation: The paperwork it needed to complete her application was stuck in one of several government storage facilities known as Federal Records Centers. Those centers, miles-long networks of man-made limestone caves built beneath the Kansas City metro area, were largely closed due to Covid-19 and had no immediate plans to reopen.

Without that paperwork, which contains Ms. Went’s complete immigration history since she moved to the U.S. from Barbados in 2011, the citizenship agency can’t approve her application.

The government, she said, told her there was no solution. “They don’t want to open the office to go and get it,” she said. “It doesn’t make any sense.”

Ms. Went isn’t the only one in bureaucratic limbo. As of this month, more than 350,000 requests for immigration histories were pending with the National Archives and Records Administration, which oversees the Federal Records Centers in Kansas City, though not all of those requests were for pending citizenship applications. https://www.wsj.com/articles/with-paperwork-locked-underground-thousands-of-u-s-citizenship-applicants-wait-and-wait-11643025603

The article has caused quite a stir today. None of it surprising..

[millefleur 5,035]

I'm failing to understand this. What exactly is the hold up? It's not like Covid is hanging out in some underground vault that barely sees visitors. Send out triple/quadruple vaccinated people who test negative. What's the problem? It's not like going into a hospital or clinic environment where there's a risk of contracting Covid in the physical space? Heck, people working in grocery stores and retail are probably at a higher risk of catching Covid than sending down a few tested people into the vaults.

[Dashinka 23,211]

Already posted in the Immigration News forum and I think I saw it somewhere else as well.  It is amazing how much we are dependent on this for immigration.

 

https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/777744-with-paperwork-locked-underground-thousands-of-us-citizenship-applicants-wait-and-wait/

 

Yep, saw it here as well.

 

 

Edited January 24, 2022 by Dashinka

[millefleur 5,035]

**Topic edited to align with TOS Fair Use rules: we don't allow full articles to be copy/pasted here due to copyright issues. Please remember that these rules apply to posting any article on VJ.**

 

VJ Moderation

 

 

[jg121783 3,907]

Just another reason to allow all paperwork to be submitted online so there is a digital copy.

[yuna628 9,527]

3 hours ago, Dashinka said:

Already posted in the Immigration News forum and I think I saw it somewhere else as well.  It is amazing how much we are dependent on this for immigration.

 

https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/777744-with-paperwork-locked-underground-thousands-of-us-citizenship-applicants-wait-and-wait/

 

Yep, saw it here as well.

 

 

Ah did not see that there. I guess the mods can do with this thread as they see fit.

 

The USCIS really is so antiquated.

[millefleur 5,035]

**Similar threads merged. Please keep all discussion around this article to the thread in the US Immigration News forum**

 

VJ Moderation

[Mike E 11,722]

The most shocking thing for me was that I thought surely these records were digitized to magnetic tape.  That wouldn’t have changed the retrieval times.
 

But no the government is apparently keeping billions of boxes of paper files.  

[yuna628 9,527]

1 hour ago, Mike E said:

The most shocking thing for me was that I thought surely these records were digitized to magnetic tape.  That wouldn’t have changed the retrieval times.
 

But no the government is apparently keeping billions of boxes of paper files.  

I was wondering how truly vast this underground place must be. Brings the final scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark to mind...