USCIS and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced this week a joint plan to eliminate the backlog of name checks pending with the FBI. The two agencies have developed a set of milestones that prioritize the workload based on the age of the pending name check. All name check cases that have been pending for more than four years have already been eliminated, says the FBI.

“This plan of action is the product of a strong partnership between USCIS and the FBI to eliminate the backlogs and to strengthen national security,” said Emilio Gonzalez, director, USCIS.

The two agencies have set a new goal of completing 98 percent of all name checks within a 30 day period. The remaining 2 percent will be jointly resolved by the agencies within a 90 day proposed period. USCIS and the FBI aim to reach this goal by June 2009 by implementing a range of strategies, including increasing staff, expanding resources and utilizing new business processes.