USCIS is moving closer to being a fully electronic organization, according to Alejandro Mayorkas, USCIS director. Last week, Mayorkas announced that he wishes to transform the agency into a more streamlined paperless service.

“We are a paper-based agency, what that means is that all of our records are really kept in paper form and that is not very efficient. It has implications of operations, cost efficiency and accuracy,” Mayorkas said.

As part of this continued transformation, USCIS is currently converting Form I-539, the Extension of Change of Status into an electronic version and giving applicants the ability to create online accounts to manage their immigration status.

According to Mayorkas, the agency is current undergoing a ‘transformation,’ an effort to fully modernize USCIS. USCIS has a multi-year effort underway to move to a fully electronic environment in which all records are maintained in electronic form. Mayorkas noted that such a transformation would enable better access to services for applicants and lead to major cost savings for the agency.