Official: Faster immigration inquiries due

BOSTON, Aug. 13 (UPI) -- FBI background checks into immigrants seeking citizenship in the United States should soon only take 30 days to complete on average, a federal official says.

Jonathan Scharfen, acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, said during a visit to Boston this week that prospective U.S. citizens will soon no longer be forced to endure years of waiting for such background checks to be completed, The Boston Globe said Wednesday.

Scharfen said while 98 percent of those inquiries will be completed within 30 days as of next June, 2 percent may take longer. Yet those immigration cases will take no longer than 90 days, he added.

The immigration official also recognized those prospective citizens who were unfairly forced to wait years as part of their quest for citizenship.

"I know that it's affected people's lives and that the vast majority of people caught up in that process were good people," Scharfen said. "We are committed to doing this well."

The Globe said the number of citizenship applications being processed this year in Boston alone is expected to surpass 32,000.