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US to revamp immigration services: Obama

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Press Trust Of India Washington

US President Barack Obama today vowed to revamp and ensure more transparency in the country’s Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) within 90 days, using cutting-edge technologies, which will help Indian-Americans applying for Green Card.

Obama told a select bi-partisan group of Congressmen that the new system would be in place in the next 90 days, in which the USCIS will launch a vastly improved website.

He said it would not only reduce the paperwork, but also the backlog and bring in more transparency into the system.

The changes would help thousands of Indian Americans who apply for permanent residency or Green Card, citizenship or approach USCIS for various immigration issues, but have to experience an agonising wait.

 

Obama said the new website, would for the first time, allow applicants to get updates on their status of their applications via e-mail and text message and online.

“Anybody who’s dealt with families who are trying to deal with — navigate the immigration system, this is going to save them huge amounts of time standing in line, waiting around, making phone calls, being put on hold,” Obama said in his remarks before a group of Congressmen whom he had invited to discuss immigration system.

It is an example of some things that we can do administratively even as we are working through difficult issues surrounding comprehensive immigration, he said.

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First Published: Jun 27 2009 | 1:03 AM IST

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