Groups Protest U Visa Backlog, Delays

May 16, 2016 letter to León Rodríguez Director, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services - "We, the 307 undersigned organizations that work with or otherwise support immigrant survivors of sexual and gender-based violence, respectfully wish to bring to your attention the increasing delays in adjudicating petitions for U nonimmigrant status. It is taking at least two years for USCIS to process Form I-918 petitions for an initial adjudication to the waitlist, and it appears likely that these delays will only worsen in the near future. ... VSC is currently adjudicating U nonimmigrant petitions that were filed on or before May 7, 2014, which means that it takes at least two years for a case to be initially adjudicated and placed on the U visa waitlist. This is a deplorable delay which seriously compromises the safety and well-being of applicants and their families. Equally alarming is the fact that there has been no forward movement at all in adjudicating these applications since April 30, 2015, which is over a year ago. We urge USCIS to support the VSC Humanitarian Unit to increase the pace of adjudications and reduce the growing backlog."