INS Seeks to Reduce Backlog : Immigration: Agency is studying plan to waive some interviews for prospective citizens in response to projected delays of two years.

Seeking to reduce the massive backlog of citizenship applications, the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service launched a major initiative Thursday that may eventually include waiving mandatory personal interviews in some cases.

Dispensing with some interviews is among the many alternatives being considered in an effort to streamline the naturalization process, INS Commissioner Doris Meissner confirmed during a visit to Los Angeles.

The bottleneck has been worsened by the mandatory interviews, which often duplicate information already gathered and also frighten off would-be citizens, immigrant advocates say.

“In some cases naturalization may be able to be done without a face-to-face interview,” Meissner told reporters after addressing some 3,500 new citizens at a ceremony at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

An unprecedented nationwide surge in citizenship applications--traceable in part to apprehension stoked by the Proposition 187 debate--has stretched the INS’ ability to process the demand, particularly in Los Angeles, the leading site for such applications. Applications have nearly tripled nationwide since 1992, to almost 1 million anticipated this year.

Delays in Los Angeles and other cities cause applicants to wait as long as a year between applying for citizenship and taking the oath, and are expected to reach two years shortly if new approaches are not tried. But Meissner vowed that by next summer backlogs will be sufficiently trimmed that applicants will only have to wait six months.

“No one should wait two years to become a U.S. citizen,” said Meissner, who noted that applicants pay a $95 fee that is supposed to cover the processing costs.

Along with streamlined procedures, the newly unveiled “Citizenship USA” plan includes staff increases, expanded facilities, new technology and additional collaboration with community-based agencies. Congress has approved a $22-million additional expenditure on naturalization, Meissner said.

At the Los Angeles INS office, Meissner announced that the citizenship staff will be more than quadrupled by January, from 30 to 135 officers; overtime payments will be increased 10%. New offices for citizenship applications may be opened in El Monte and in the San Fernando Valley, said Richard K. Rogers, INS district director.

Now, citizenship applications are streaming into the Los Angeles office at the rate of 25,000 a month, a number that is expected to rise substantially next year.

The commissioner emphasized that dispensing with some interviews--a step long advocated by immigrant advocates but resisted by activists seeking reductions in immigration--is still being studied. Moreover, Meissner emphasized that the standards for citizenship would not be diluted and that an INS officer would still examine each application.

In general, foreign nationals seeking citizenship must have lived in the United States legally for five years, show a knowledge of the English language and U.S. government and demonstrate “good moral character.”

Still, the public acknowledgment that waiving interviews is being considered was sufficient to generate condemnation from some politicians.

Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) characterized any plan to do away with some citizenship interviews as “unconscionable.”

The Ventura County legislator, who heads the congressional Task Force on Immigration Reform, said he believed that such a move would increase fraudulent citizenship applications.

“Maybe we could just mail certificates out in the mail to those who were thinking of coming to the United States,” Gallegly said facetiously. “That would speed things up.”

But others argued that the interviews are largely a waste of INS resources, tying up examiners on superficial but time-consuming reviews of what is already on the application.

The proposal being examined would only eliminate interviews of those applicants who are deemed extremely likely to be approved--for instance, those longtime residents who have no known criminal records.

One possibility: Waive interviews for many of the 3 million “amnesty” applicants who obtained legal status under the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act and who are becoming eligible for citizenship. Amnesty recipients have been interviewed as part of their legalization application.

The citizenship interview, which typically lasts 10 to 15 minutes, is designed for various purposes: to check the veracity of the application, confirm the lack of a criminal past, and to certify would-be citizens’ grasp of English and U.S. government. Other streamlining procedures being considered would allow qualified private groups to certify applicants’ English proficiency, a certification process already in place for the civics requirement.