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Title 8, Aliens and NationalityRelease 119-110

§1571 Purposes

Title 8 › CHAPTER 13 — IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION SERVICE › SUBCHAPTER II — IMMIGRATION SERVICES AND INFRASTRUCTURE IMPROVEMENTS › § 1571

Last updated Sep 22, 2026|Official source

Summary

Require the Immigration and Naturalization Service to get rid of its backlog of immigration benefit applications within one year after October 17, 2000, and to keep the backlog cleared in later years. It also requires regular congressional oversight of the INS to check how well it removes the backlog and shortens processing delays. Congress says most immigration benefit applications must be finished within 180 days of filing. A petition for a nonimmigrant visa under section 1184(c) must be finished within 30 days.

Full Legal Text

Title 8, §1571

Aliens and Nationality, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Purposes
The purposes of this subchapter are to—
(1)provide the Immigration and Naturalization Service with the mechanisms it needs to eliminate the current backlog in the processing of immigration benefit applications within 1 year after October 17, 2000, and to maintain the elimination of the backlog in future years; and
(2)provide for regular congressional oversight of the performance of the Immigration and Naturalization Service in eliminating the backlog and processing delays in immigration benefits adjudications.
(b)Policy
It is the sense of Congress that the processing of an immigration benefit application should be completed not later than 180 days after the initial filing of the application, except that a petition for a nonimmigrant visa under section 1184(c) of this title should be processed not later than 30 days after the filing of the petition.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Short Title

For

Short Title

of title II of Pub. L. 106–313, which enacted this subchapter, as the “Immigration Services and Infrastructure Improvements Act of 2000”, see section 201 of Pub. L. 106–313, set out as a

Short Title

of 2000 Amendment note under section 1551 of this title. Abolition of Immigration and Naturalization Service and

Transfer of Functions

For abolition of Immigration and Naturalization Service,

Transfer of Functions

, and treatment of related references, see note set out under section 1551 of this title.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

8 U.S.C. § 1571

Title 8, Aliens and Nationality

Last Updated

Sep 22, 2026

Release point: 119-110