In planning and performing our audit of the INS’s Premium Processing program, we considered the INS’s management controls for the purpose of determining our auditing procedures.  This evaluation was not made for the purpose of providing assurances on the management control structure as a whole.

We identified the following weaknesses in the INS’s Premium Processing program and made appropriate recommendations.  They are:

• The INS service centers failed to implement IBIS checks in a timely manner and that failure resulted in 11,830 premium processing petitions and 375,766 routine petitions being adjudicated without being checked against the IBIS database between January and March 2002.
• The INS failed to meet its goal of reducing the servicewide backlog for all petitions.  Our analysis found that the backlog has increased steadily since the second quarter of 2002.
• The Premium Processing program oversight is weak.  Premium Processing applications and related statistical data are not separately identified in the national adjudication statistics.  Furthermore, the INS did not conduct formal analyses to determine the added costs associated with the Premium Processing program or the justification of the $1,000 premium.

Because we are not expressing an opinion on the INS’s overall management control structure, this statement is intended solely for the information and use of the INS in managing its premium service program.