A couple of weeks someone was talking to me about how she wanted an accommodation from someone within a big bureaucracy. She did not get it and was perplexed and slightly angry that she got know. As she saw it, a little accommodation would have been more efficient not only for her but for the big bureacracy. Ever the contrarian, I explained that if certain things need to be accomplished by tens of thousands of people, part of the large…

In one short week, this is some of the wisdom that has come from USCIS. 1. A, from Las Vegas, is a long-term permanent resident. A’s ten-year green card is expiring next month. A went online to the USCIS website to file to renew the green card. A then took the receipt for $450 to the Las Vegas USCIS office with A’s passport so A could get A’s passport stamped with proof  that A’s permanent resident status was not expiring,…

  It used to be that if you had a problem with a case with USCIS, you had no real options other than wait and wait years and years. Talking to an information officer was nearly impossible, as lines wrapped around city blocks to talk to one. Then, USCIS instituted a system where customers made appointments to speak with an officer, Infopass. Lines dropped precipitously, either because people caught on that changes in the law in the 1990’s made getting…

Widespread are complaints about customer service. People talk and write about insufferable time put on hold when calling for help, being transferred from customer service representative to customer service representative, and long waits until someone who can make a decision is located and a decision is made. As bad as any customer service complaint you may have about your credit card company, utility company, mortgage company, or bank, compared to USCIS, they are head and shoulders above the service USCIS…