Immigration Law

USCIS, FBI Eliminate National Name Check Backlog

By Robert Kraft

On June 22, 2009, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced that a partnership between the two agencies has resulted in the elimination of a large backlog in the FBI's National Name Check Program (NNCP).
 
The purpose of the NNCP is to 'disseminate information from FBI files in response to name check requests received from federal agencies… foreign police… intelligence agencies…' as well as 'state and local law enforcement agencies.' NNCP employees within the FBI respond to such requests by determining 'whether a specific individual has been the subject of or mentioned in any FBI investigation(s)…' The FBI states that they do not adjudicate such requests from the various agencies – the FBI simply provides the relevant information.
 
While delays are still likely to occur, the USCIS reports that the continued partnership with the FBI will help ensure that name check processing is completed as soon as possible without compromising national security.
 
For more information on USCIS and its programs, please visit www.uscis.gov. For additional information on the FBI, please visit www.fbi.gov.

Full post as published by Immigration Law Answers Blog on June 23, 2009 (boomark / email).