In an attempt to demystify the FBI name check process related to USCIS inquiries for immigration application adjudications, IALA conducted a 90 minute radio interview with the FBI Name Check program Section Chief Michael Cannon and Christopher Bentley, Press Secretary and Manager of Public Relations of USCIS at KRSI Radio on November 6, 2007.

In this radio interview Michael Cannon, Section Chief of the FBI name check program, explained that about 68 percent of USCIS name check inquires are processed and returned within 72 hours with “No Record”, about 22 percent of the inquiries will take up to 6 months to process and about 10 percent will take more than six months. In other words according to Section Chief Cannon 90 percent of USCIS inquiries are processed within 6 months.

Christopher Bentley Press Secretary and Manager of Public Relations of USCIS explained that his agency is fully aware of the ramifications of any possible delays which are caused by the process but emphasized the importance of these checks in relation to national security.

In a recent discussion with DHS, FBI and USCIS, IALA has learned that in the past month, USCIS has been working closely with the FBI name check section in order to redefine the criteria of the checks in an attempt to eliminate irrelevant “hits” which would unnecessarily delay some checks. IALA has been told that during February or March of 2008, the redesigned process will be tested and announced.

You can click on the sections below to listen to the radio interview.