Dr. Emilio Gonzalez, director of USCIS, announced on March 13, that he would resign on April 18.

Emilio Gonzalez was originally from Cuba and became an American citizen later. He took the director’s office in January 2006. He also served 26 years in the U.S. Army.

During his tenure, Dr. Gonzalez took big efforts to improve customer service and modernize the operations of USCIS. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said that “Emilio has been an extraordinary director who is leaving an indelible mark on the transformation and modernization of USCIS operations.”

Dr. Emilio Gonzalez said he would like to spend more time with his family and decided to leave the job. He said in his resignation letter that “Since 1999, due to my professional commitments and requirements, I have led a part-time family life. The time has now come for me to return to being a full-time husband and father.”

However, it is also reported that his resignation is partly caused by the accumulated backlog of naturalization and other applications.

Dr. Emilio Gonzalez approved a significant increase in immigration fees, which took effect in July 30 2007. In order to beat the new fee increase, petitions flooded in USCIS in 2007. In addition, as employment-based visa numbers were available to applicants from all countries, green card applications also had a drastic increase in last summer. These two factors caused a big backlog in naturalization and green card applications. It is estimated that more than half million naturalization petitions were filed in July 2007 alone. Now, it takes more than 12 months to process naturalization petitions.

This year is the presidential election year. The delay in USCIS means prospective citizens could not vote in this November. This causes more pressure on the director. However, Dr. Emilio Gonzalez denied that his resignation is related to criticisms of the fee increase and backlog in naturalization petitions in an election year.

The deputy director of USCIS, Jonathan Scharfen will replace him after the approval of Senate.

We are impressed with Dr. Gonzalez’s effort to improve the efficiency of USCIS and modernize its operation, for example, USCIS now may approve I-485 applications whose FBI name-check has been pending for more than 180 days.

We wish the best of Dr. Gonzalez and his family.