Immigration Benefits: Actions Needed to Address Vulnerabilities in Process for Granting Permanent Residency

In 2008, we reported on U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services's (USCIS) processes for screening individuals applying for lawful permanent residency (LPR). Part of that evaluation examined the extent to which USCIS has addressed fraud vulnerabilities in its adjudication procedures for LPR applications. At the time of our report, USCIS had taken some actions to address vulnerabilities identified in one of its Benefit Fraud and Compliance Assessments (BFCA), but had yet to complete actions to address vulnerabilities identified in four other BFCAs. Although USCIS's Office of Fraud Detection and National Security (FDNS) completed these assessments between June 2006 and September 2007, USCIS had not established time frames for evaluating these findings and implementing any necessary corrective actions. We recommended that the Director of USCIS, among other things, establish timetables for addressing findings from its four fraud assessments. In fiscal year 2012, USCIS informed GAO that, in response to our recommendations, its Office of Policy and Strategy developed a two-part plan to assess the quality of the previous BFCA reports and to create a program that will have the capacity to readily address a variety of issues concerning benefit fraud. The first part utilizes a contract vehicle to assess the BFCA reports while creating template methodologies that can be used to conduct future studies with greater effectiveness and efficiency. The second part involves the application of the newly-developed methodologies to focus on areas of concern as identified by ongoing operational and risk management efforts. USCIS informed GAO of its timetables for assessing the quality of BFCA reports, developing methodologies for future studies, and implementing those methodologies. According to USCIS, the Office of Policy and Strategy's Research and Evaluation Division will be responsible for monitoring the contract for assessing past BFCAs and for implementing any newly-developed methodologies. USCIS's plan to assess the quality of previous fraud assessments and to create a program to readily address benefit fraud issues meets the intent of our recommendation. With these new measures, USCIS should be able to better ensure that findings from fraud and compliance assessments are acted upon and enhance USCIS's overall fraud detection efforts.