January 19, 1999

Memorandum For: All Regional Directors
All Service Center Directors

From: Michael A. Pearson
Executive Associate Commissioner
Office of Field Operations

Subject: Policy for I-485s Affected by G-325/CIA Name Checks

Background

The transition from the ICF to ICPS caused a delay in the processing of G-325 agency name checks. This delay affected not only the Service's receipt of G-325 responses from the CIA but also the adjudication of pending Form I-485s filed since April 1, 1998, In light of this delay, regional offices and service centers were instructed not to follow the "presumptive response time" policy, as set forth in Operating Instruction 105.10, and to suspend adjudication of all I-485s, until further notice.

At present, the FBI processing of the G-325A background tapes is current. The CIA, however, only now has begun addressing G-325 name checks for May 1998 cases. As a result of the delay with the background checks, two issues require immediate attention: (1) adjudication of I-485s of children who are about to "age-out," and (2) setting an interim policy for adjudication of I-485s pending G-325 responses. This memorandum provides policy guidance on these issues. Detailed field instructions from the Office of Field Operations will follow shortly.

Interim Policy for "Aging-out" cases

For a six month period, beginning with the date of this memorandum, district and service center directors are authorized to adjudicate I-485 applications for children who are about to age out, with G-325 responses pending, provided the Service has received FBI fingerprint and/or background check clearances. Directors have discretion to determine which I-485s merit expedited adjudication and should consider factors such as timeliness of filing and age of the child affected. This interim policy is being implemented to ensure that "aging-out" children and their family members are not adversely affected by the G-325 backlog. Please note directors should adjudicate the applications of all family members with the application of the child who is about to age out.

For cases adjudicated pursuant to this interim policy, directors must hold the cases for post-audit processing once the CIA background checks have cleared. District offices are to report by fax to the regional office the name of the applicant, A number, adjustment code and the date on which copy 2 of the I-181 was submitted to the Service Center for each expedited case. District offices should also notify the region by fax when each case is closed out during post-audit processing. Similarly, service centers should report cases expedited pursuant to this policy to Headquarters Service Center Operations. Until further notice, district offices and Service Centers should maintain records for these cases and make them available upon request.

This interim policy is in effect only for the six-month period noted. We anticipate the G-325 backlog will be resolved in this time period and that the CIA should return to a sixty-day response time on all G-325s.

Interim Processing Policy

The Service currently relies on a "presumptive response time" of sixty (60) days from the date the G-325 tapes are delivered to the CIA for processing. Thus, if the 60-day period had run and the Service received no hard copy response, traditionally we "presumed" no derogatory information and permitted final adjudication of pending I-485s.

Due to the delays in the current G-325 processing, however, the Service can no longer adhere to the "presumptive response time" policy. At this time, only the G-325 tapes for the months of April, May, June, and July 1998 have been delivered to the CIA for processing. Until the G-325 backlog is addressed, Headquarters will apprise district offices and service centers, on a month to month basis, of those I-485s, pending G-325 checks, that may proceed to final adjudication. Effective with this memorandum, the field can commence final adjudication of cases filed between April 1, 1998 and April 30, 1998.

Additional steps to reduce the presumptive response time under the interim processing policy

The Service is currently working on streamlining the G-325 process to eliminate unnecessary steps for transmission, and receipt of, G-325 information. The CIA estimates that it takes approximately 60 days to complete processing of a tape once it is received. In addition, currently, G-325 hard copy responses are returned to HQINT. The process by which the hard Copy responses are then forwarded to the respective field offices is both lengthy and cumbersome and adds considerably to the G-325 response time.

The Service is modifying the hard copy response procedures to have such responses now forwarded to a central location, tentatively designated as the Texas Service Center, Operations Branch (TSC Ops). At TSC Ops, the responses will be reviewed and the information transmitted directly to the respective field office for immediate inclusion in the relating A-file. This process will be similar to the FBI G-325A response process, which currently takes only about one week for receipt of the responses from the FBI to inclusion of the response in the A-file. Using this period as a gauge, the processing time for CIA background checks should be greatly reduced.

Initiation of Automated Response System - G-Track

The current "Presumptive response time" system requires the transmission of G-325 background checks by tape, which in turn generates hard copy responses for cases that have, or may have, derogatory information. Currently, the information provided on the G-325 tapes is insufficient for the CIA to clearly identify cases with possible "positive" responses. As a result, the CIA must conduct extended research, which delays the response time. Further delays develop when the hard copy responses received from the CIA must be manually routed to the A-files.

Continuing efforts are underway to enhance the integrity of the process and reduce the response time. HQOPP and IRM have prioritized the development of an automated response system, "G-Track", for G-325A generated background checks. The automated system will allow for backend loading of definitive responses, which will in turn be readily available to adjudicators, resulting in a shorter response time and adjudication of I-485s.

In order for G-Track to operate as efficiently and economically as possible, however, district offices and service centers must provide additional information on the initial tapes. This will reduce not only the CIA's time required for researching possible responses, but also the overall G-325 processing time. District offices and service centers can provide the required additional information simply by designating more fields on the I-181, Memorandum of Creation of Record as "required fields."

The Service also is currently working on recording non-response cases, but this aspect of the automated response system will require more time to implement. However, since over 90% of the requests submitted to the ClA result in no response, the Service anticipates that it will adjudicate the vast majority of its case-load with non-responses in about half the time it currently takes to adjudicate on the "presumptive response time" procedure. Those cases the system fails to identify as being non-response cases would have to be held for adjudication until the hard copy is received in the record.