USCIS Announces FY 2021 Accomplishments—Online Filing and Tools (4 of 5)

WASHINGTON — Today, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is releasing preliminary fiscal year (FY) 2021 agency statistics and accomplishments. These preliminary statistics highlight important immigration trends and illustrate the work accomplished by USCIS in FY 2021. The agency will publish final, verified FY 2021 statistics in January 2022.

“I’m immensely proud of the USCIS workforce and for their achievements in a year of many challenges and rebuilding. From responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and addressing processing delays to enacting numerous operational and policy changes in response to executive orders from the Biden-Harris Administration, FY 2021 marks a year of growth and renewed vision for our agency,” said USCIS Director Ur M. Jaddou. “In the upcoming year, we will continue to serve the public with compassion and reflect America’s promise as a nation of welcome and possibilities for all. As we administer our nation’s immigration system as an engine of American strength, we will adjudicate requests with fairness, efficiency, and integrity.”

Online Filing and Tools

The agency’s transition from paper applications to a fully digital filing and adjudication experience continues to be an important priority for USCIS. Consequently, USCIS continues to expand our online filing capabilities.

USCIS has continued to expand and enhance the self-help tools available to applicants online and through the agency’s Contact Center with the goal of providing more efficient, timely service. Through continued outreach and promotion, the number of myUSCIS online accounts grew from 6.1 million in FY 2020 to 9 million in FY 2021, a growth rate of 48%. In FY 2021, approximately 1,210,700 applications were filed online, a 2.3% increase from the 1,184,000 filed in FY 2020. In FY 2021, USCIS added two forms for electronic filing:

• Form I-821, Application for Temporary Protected Status; and
• Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization, for:
  • Temporary Protected Status applicants seeking employment authorization who have an approved form I-821 (a)(12) or a pending form I-821 (c)(19); and
  • F-1 students seeking optional practical training (OPT) if they request employment authorization under one of these categories: (c)(3)(A) – Pre-Completion OPT; (c)(3)(B) – Post-Completion OPT; and (c)(3)(C) – 24-Month Extension of OPT for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) students.