If someone had told me years ago that migrating legally to the U.S. would require more paperwork than getting a mortgage, enrolling three kids in school, and registering a small business—combined—I would’ve thought they were joking. They weren’t.
I’ve been in immigration law for long enough to know that the real border isn’t always physical—it’s bureaucratic. It lives in ink, PDFs, misplaced signatures, and multi-month wait times for documents that may or may not even be reviewed by a human. Here in Kansas City, where people have strong work ethics, solid family values, and bold dreams, you’d think the system would reward that. But as we’ve learned over and over again at Midwest Immigration Law (MIL), effort alone doesn’t cut it—especially when USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services) decides that your application is missing “sufficient evidence,” even when it’s 98 pages long.
Let’s take a long, slightly frustrating—but hopefully enlightening—walk through the real machinery of immigration paperwork. Spoiler alert: it’s not pretty, but there’s a lot of fascinating stuff buried under all that red tape.
The Real Cost of “Processing”
“Processing time” is one of those terms that sounds oddly gentle. But suppose you’re applying for an H-1B work visa, adjusting your status through a marriage-based green card, or filing for asylum after escaping political persecution. In that case, the term can feel more like a prison sentence than a queue.
While I work as an immigration lawyer in Kansas City, I constantly monitor global processing trends, and here’s a sobering fact: The U.S. has some of the longest immigration form processing times among major developed countries. In Canada, the permanent residency process for skilled workers typically takes an average of 6 to 12 months. In Australia, it’s often less than a year. The U.S.? As of mid-2025, USCIS reports median wait times of 13.5 months for adjustment of status and over 22 months for certain family-based petitions. That’s the median, not the maximum.
Meanwhile, your case sits. Your children age out of eligibility. Your job offer expires. Or worse, you start building a life here just to be told that your I-485 is delayed “pending background checks.”
Is there a fix for this? Sure. However, like many aspects of immigration law, the solution is complex, slow-moving, and deeply political.
The Immigration Form Maze: Not Just a Meme
It’s easy to joke about Form I-485 or I-130 like they’re exotic creatures from a Kafka novel, but when you’re living it, it’s not funny. For a first-time applicant, even a seemingly “simple” petition like Form I-765 (Application for Employment Authorization) can feel like you’re assembling a cold war missile: a dozen documents, affidavits, passport photos, government IDs, and the ever-present danger that one typo will bounce your file back into a seven-month black hole.
This is where our firm, Midwest Immigration Law, earns its keep. As an immigration lawyer in Kansas City, I often meet clients who filed solo and got stuck. USCIS doesn’t offer refunds for denied applications, and they don’t call to tell you what went wrong. You’ll just get a sterile letter with phrases like “incomplete submission” or “inadmissible evidence.”
What makes it worse is that USCIS’s digital tools are still stuck somewhere between 2006 and an AOL dial-up modem. The “Case Status Online” portal often offers as much insight as a Magic 8-Ball. Did your package get scanned? Is it in a real queue? Was it transferred to another service center in Texas for some reason, no one understands? No idea. Please check again in 60 days.
Kansas City, Patience, and a Law Degree
We live in a city that knows how to build things. We’ve got factories, universities, tech startups, and some of the best BBQs in the world. However, when it comes to immigration paperwork, no amount of brisket or local charm can expedite the bureaucracy. And yet, here in Kansas City, I see some of the toughest, most resilient families navigate the U.S. immigration maze with hope.
Take, for example, the story of a Guatemalan mother I worked with who had been waiting for her U Visa for nearly nine years. Her application had been stuck in “review” status since the Obama administration. She had three children born in the U.S., was working legally with a pending EAD (employment authorization document), and had no criminal record. But her case was lost in limbo. It took multiple congressional inquiries, legal briefs, and enough follow-ups to fill a binder before we finally pushed it through last year.
Now imagine trying to do that alone, with no help. It’s no wonder people give up, overstay visas, or slip into unauthorized status. And then ICE steps in.
Why Delays Create More “Illegal” Immigration
Let’s be honest: most people don’t cross borders illegally because they want to break laws. They do it because the legal pathway is so clogged with delays, denials, and contradictory advice that the risk of skipping the line feels safer than waiting in it.
One of the biggest global criticisms of U.S. immigration law is this: it unintentionally incentivizes unlawful behavior. A 2023 OECD study found that over 37% of immigrants in the U.S. who entered legally ended up overstaying or shifting into undocumented status—not because they wanted to—but because their status lapsed during pending applications that never got processed in time.
As an immigration lawyer in Kansas City, I find this both heartbreaking and infuriating. We penalize people for not having patience with a system that doesn’t have patience for them.
Other countries have attempted to address this issue. For example, in Portugal, digital residency renewals are processed in under two weeks via a centralized government platform. In Ireland, student visa holders receive renewal instructions via text message. Meanwhile, here in the U.S., I recently had to explain to a client that, yes, you do need to print your I-693 medical exam on 8.5×11 white paper and bring it to a government office physically—because uploading a PDF isn’t acceptable.
The Big Company Irony: Tech Giants vs. Outdated Systems
Here’s a fact that blows most people’s minds. The U.S. immigration system still uses COBOL, a 1950s-era programming language, in several of its core systems. That’s the same code used to run ATMs and NASA’s Apollo mission computers. So, while Google, Amazon, and Meta try to bring AI to everything from emails to dishwashers, USCIS case updates still rely on legacy systems maintained by a workforce that’s slowly retiring.
And who is hurt most by this outdated infrastructure? The very same tech workers these companies recruit from abroad.
Google spent more than $42 million in 2022 on immigration-related legal services for their foreign employees. Yes, that’s just legal fees. It doesn’t even cover relocation costs or filing fees for the case. And it’s not because the law is hard to follow—it’s because the process is an obstacle course designed by a bureaucratic Rube Goldberg machine.
I’ve had clients from India, Brazil, and Ukraine who were recruited by major companies in the Kansas City metro area but still found themselves stuck in legal limbo over basic steps, such as PERM certification delays or biometrics appointments scheduled in another state.
When we step in, Midwest Immigration Law’s professional assistance is often what turns a stuck case into a success. Sometimes, all it takes is knowing exactly which form to resubmit, how to phrase a cover letter, or how to get a live human at USCIS on the phone (yes, it’s possible—but you have to speak the right “hold music” language).
Is There Any Hope? Actually, Yes—But It’s a Grind
There’s growing political interest in reforming the paperwork side of immigration. Several bills in Congress have proposed “premium processing” options for family-based petitions and digital filing systems that would cut down time by 50%. There’s also bipartisan support—believe it or not—for increasing staffing and digitizing backlogs at USCIS.
But while Congress debates, we act.
At MIL, we’re not just form-fillers. We’re translators, cultural interpreters, and sometimes emotional support humans. We know that immigration paperwork is more than just boxes and checkmarks—it’s people’s lives. The documents we file determine where a child grows up, whether someone gets to bury their parent, or if a marriage survives the next visa renewal.
The Future Is Digital, But Not Anytime Soon
Every time USCIS mentions “digital modernization,” we collectively raise our eyebrows like we’ve just heard a toddler promise to pay the rent. The sentiment is nice. The reality? We’ve been here before.
In 2005, Congress approved a multi-million-dollar initiative to digitize all immigration forms under the Electronic Immigration System (ELIS) banner. It failed. Spectacularly. After years of delays, only a handful of forms could be filed online. The rest were trapped in a hybrid paper-digital Frankenstein system that confused even the agents processing it.
As an immigration lawyer in Kansas City, I’ve learned to treat every new “innovation” claim with cautious optimism. USCIS has recently rolled out some improvements, such as online FOIA requests and limited chat features; however, they’re still behind what any modern institution should offer in 2025. Meanwhile, private companies have developed more efficient systems for tasks such as ordering lunch.
Some companies in the private sector are now utilizing blockchain to verify global identities and credentials. Estonia, a country with a population of just 1.3 million, allows foreign nationals to apply for “e-residency” in minutes. By contrast, applying for a U.S. green card still involves waiting for a sealed envelope from a civil surgeon, delivered by mail, which you’re not allowed to open, even though it contains your lab results.
When Filing Fees Feel Like Rent Payments
Another hidden cost in the immigration process? Filing fees. And they’re not staying flat.
As of 2025, USCIS fees have increased across the board. An H-1B registration now costs $215 (up from $10 in 2020), while the I-129 petition adds another $780. Adjustment of status? Over $1,440 once you add the biometric and EAD/AP combos. For family-based petitions, the I-130 fee alone jumped to $675. And if you make a single mistake? You’ll likely pay it all again.
For someone earning minimum wage in Kansas or Missouri, that’s a whole month’s paycheck—before legal assistance. And while some firms in coastal cities charge five figures to process these cases, we believe that should never be the norm.
At Midwest Immigration Law (MIL), we’ve always been honest about pricing. We know our clients aren’t trust fund tech bros or diplomats. They’re delivery drivers, grad students, nurses, and newlyweds trying to play by the rules without going broke. Keeping legal help affordable isn’t just good ethics—it’s good business because satisfied clients bring referrals, not Yelp reviews with three angry face emojis.
And let’s be real—there are enough angry emojis in immigration law already.
From Kansas City to Kabul: The Human Side of the System
I’ll never forget working on a case for a man who had been an interpreter for U.S. forces in Afghanistan. After the fall of Kabul, he fled with his family and landed in Kansas, hoping to find peace in the Midwest. But despite risking his life for American soldiers, his SIV (Special Immigrant Visa) application sat untouched for over 14 months.
He had three kids. No work permit. No driver’s license. His wife, once a teacher, was doing seamstress work for cash under the table. A man who wore body armor for our troops couldn’t get a caseworker on the phone.
When we took over his file, we escalated the case through local congressional liaisons and attached affidavits from military personnel. Within six weeks, things finally began to move. Today, he’s employed, housed, and contributing to Kansas City’s diverse economy—precisely what the system is supposed to enable.
But that success wasn’t automatic. It required pressure, precision, and persistence. Traits that don’t come with USCIS Form I-944.
Downsides That Immigrants Whisper About (But Shouldn’t Have To)
Let’s talk briefly about the things people are afraid to say out loud.
Many immigrants feel that the system is designed to punish them, not help them. They tell me about ICE check-ins that turn into surprise detentions, about fingerprint appointments scheduled hundreds of miles away, and about lawyers in other states who took thousands of dollars without explaining what a “Notice of Intent to Deny” even means.
As an immigration lawyer in Kansas City, I’ve taken over dozens of cases where applicants were too scared to admit they were in trouble until it was almost too late. That’s a systemic failure—not just of government, but of trust, access, and education.
Even worse? There is a sense that some USCIS officers wield discretionary power like a sword. Two identical cases filed in different service centers can get opposite outcomes. Why? Because human bias, overwork, and inconsistencies are baked into the system. It’s not just broken—it’s arbitrary.
A 2024 study from the Migration Policy Institute found that over 28% of USCIS decisions in asylum and adjustment cases varied dramatically based on which field office handled them. That’s not the law. That’s roulette.
So What Can You Do?
Here’s the part where I tell you to hang in there, but not alone.
Yes, the system is frustrating. Yes, it’s slow. However, you don’t have to tackle it alone. I can’t promise you a magic button that will get your visa approved overnight. But I can promise you that every form, every deadline, every signature can be managed—strategically, smartly, and legally—if you have the right people on your side.
That’s what we do at Midwest Immigration Law. Whether you need someone to call USCIS 17 times until you get a live human, or you’re facing a Request for Evidence (RFE) that looks like a PhD dissertation, we’re here to handle the chaos.
Our clients often say things like, “I didn’t know the process could feel this human,” or “I wish I had found you two years ago.” The truth is, we’re not miracle workers. We just believe that immigration law shouldn’t feel like a trap.
Whether you’re seeking a visa, defending against removal, or simply navigating the bizarre maze of form numbers, we’ll be right here in Kansas City, ready to translate bureaucratic nonsense into plain English—and get you one step closer to your future.
If you’re ready to cut through the noise and move forward with confidence, Midwest Immigration Law is a great place to start.
Final Thoughts
I know firsthand that many immigrants aren’t just chasing dreams—they’re escaping nightmares. Some left war, others left persecution, and some just want a future for their kids that doesn’t involve hiding from sirens or carrying expired papers like a time bomb.
But even in a system this flawed, people still come. And with the right help, they still win.
Here in Kansas City, at MIL, we don’t take shortcuts. However, we take pride in ensuring that every person feels seen, every document is double-checked, and every story is treated with importance because it genuinely matters.
And in a world that can feel as cold as an RFE letter from a Nebraska service center, sometimes just having someone in your corner makes all the difference.
Let that be us.
