Green cards are incredibly important and impactful immigration documents. Thus, one would hope that, when issuing such documents, the U.S. government would make sure they are issued correctly and go to the person they are supposed to.
A recent report, however, indicates that mistakes may be more prevalent than one would hope when it comes to the issuing of green cards. The report is from the inspector general of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
One of the errors the report discussed was green cards being sent to the wrong addresses. According to the report, it is possible that hundreds of green cards have ended up going to an incorrect address.
Green cards being sent to wrong addresses can pose many problems. For one, it could create security risks. Such errors could also be very problematic for the individuals who the green cards were supposed to go to. It could lead to delays in them actually physically getting their green card. Unnecessary delays in actually getting immigration paperwork they were approved for (particularly especially impactful paperwork like a green card) can create all sorts of difficulties for an immigrant.
Other errors the report pointed out included wrong names being put on immigration documents.
Issues with the implementation of the Electronic Immigration System (ELIS) are being pointed to as a potential contributor to the errors the report discussed. The report was critical of the progress of the implementation.
Do you think the current state of the U.S. government’s immigration-related systems (such as the ELIS) make immigration document mistakes particularly likely? If so, what changes do you think need to occur with such systems?
As this discussion underscores, the government sometimes makes mistakes, such as document mistakes, when it comes to immigration matters. Given the major effects such mistakes can have, when a person has an immigration matter and the government makes an error in relation to the matter, they should think about seeking out an experienced immigration law attorney’s help with addressing the error. Such attorneys can advise a person on the options they have for responding to the error, what they can do to try to get the error corrected and what steps they can take to try to minimize the error’s effects on them and their immigration matter.
Source: ABC News, “DHS Watchdog Says Stalled Immigration System May Be Security Risk,” Mike Levine, March 15, 2016