United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office General Government Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 1997-05-20 monographic deposited born digital 38 p. GA 1.13:GGD-97-47 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GGD-97-47 P0b002ee180383502 f:gg97047 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-28 GAOREPORTS-GGD-97-47 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-GGD-97-47 GGD-97-47 Aliens Naturalization Productivity Statistical methods Human resources utilization INS Direct Mail Program Letter Report GGD

GAO reviewed whether significant differences in production rates and processing times existed among Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) field units in alien application processing, focusing on what factors INS officials believe could have caused the differences. GAO did not attempt to do the more detailed analyses that would be necessary to determine actual causes.<p/>GAO noted that: (1) its analyses of INS data for the 25-month period of June 1994 through June 1996 showed that statistically significant differences existed in the production rates for the five predominant types of applications processed by INS' district offices and the three predominant types of applications processed by its service centers; (2) large differences also existed in the projected processing times for the two types of applications for which these data were readily available; (3) the data showed that INS district offices' projected processing times ranged from 112 to 678 days to process naturalization applications and from 36 to 799 days to process adjustment-of-status applications; (4) GAO found no significant statistical relationship between production rates and projected processing times among the district offices; (5) while GAO did not determine directly what caused the differences, the wide range in rates and times suggests that opportunities may exist to improve the production and timeliness of some of the INS field units; (6) to that end, GAO asked INS officials what factors they believed could potentially have caused the differences in the production rates and processing times; (7) they suggested a number of potential factors, including the following: (a) differences in the way the field units reported the data GAO used to calculate the production rates and processing times; (b) assistance provided by community-based service organizations in some districts to aliens when filling out their applications; (c) the use of outside agencies for conducting naturalization testing by some district offices; (d) the authorization of increased overtime for some districts' employees; (e) the varying experience levels and degrees of specialization of district office and service center adjudications officers; and (f) differences in the staffing levels among some district offices; (8) GAO did not attempt to determine whether or to what degree the factors suggested by the officials may have affected the individual field units' production rates and processing times; (9) however, differences in processing times mean that aliens in different INS districts have had to wait disparate amounts of time for their applications to be processed; and (10) thus, the need to treat applicants fairly and use government resources efficiently makes both determining the causes of the production and tim* https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GGD-97-47/html/GAOREPORTS-GGD-97-47.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GGD-97-47/pdf/GAOREPORTS-GGD-97-47.pdf GAO/GGD-97-47 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GGD-97-47 Letter Report GAO/GGD-97-47; Alien Applications: Processing Differences Exist Among INS Field Units; Aliens Naturalization Productivity Statistical methods Human resources utilization INS Direct Mail Program Title 31 Section 720 31 U.S.C. 720 Volume 102 Page 2186 102 Stat. 2186 Volume 110 Page 3009 110 Stat. 3009 Public Law 100-459 Public Law 104-208