Encouraging the use of USCIS’ online forms

What is the agency priority?

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) aims to increase customer satisfaction by encouraging the effective and efficient use of USCIS’ online services and contact centers as part of their mission to uphold America’s promise as a nation of welcome and possibility with fairness, integrity, and respect for all they serve. Increasing the number of customers who use USCIS’ online portal is a key agency priority, as part of their efforts to reduce the paperwork burden on customers and agency staff. The agency has identified Lawful Permanent Residents (LPRs) as one key target group to increase use of online services, as they may benefit from opportunities to renew their Green Cards online. Despite the online availability of Form I-90 [Application to Replace Permanent Resident Card (Green Card)] since 2015, online filing rates had hovered at an average of approximately 60% over the two years preceding this evaluation.

What did we evaluate?

USCIS offers forms and services through their online portal myUSCIS, that many customers do not utilize. Customers may underutilize online tools for a variety of reasons, including a lack of information, a (mis)belief that such tools are not secure, or a perception that using online tools is difficult or cumbersome.¹ As part of their broader outreach efforts to promote online services, USCIS sends LPR customers text messages reminding them that the form to renew their Green Card is available online. Messages are sent three times at six, four, and two months prior to their Green Card expiration dates. We evaluated the impact of sending any text message outreach on online filing rates. We also designed and evaluated a new text message emphasizing that online filing allows customers to more easily track their case status.²

How did the evaluation work?

We randomly assigned 59,288 LPRs to one of three groups: 1. the control group (n=19,854) which did not receive any text message; 2. the status quo group (n=19,774) which received the agency’s pre-existing message that read, “Renewing a Green Card is now easier than ever with online filing. To learn more, visit uscis.gov/i-90”; and 3. the modified message group (n=19,660) assigned to the newly designed text message reading, “Renewing a Green Card with online filing allows you to track your case status in real time. To learn more, visit uscis.gov/i-90”. Customers were grouped by phone number, and each unique phone number was randomly assigned to one of the three conditions.

New customers were enrolled into the evaluation monthly over the course of five consecutive months in 2023 during the course of the agency’s usual outreach program. Only customers whose Green Cards were set to expire two months from the enrollment month (e.g., expiring in July if enrolled in May) were included in the evaluation.

What did we learn?

Overall, 26,372 customers filed a Form I-90 through any filing method, and we found no significant difference in the likelihood of filing online between the customers assigned to receive either text message and those assigned to receive no text message. Additionally, there was no significant difference in likelihood of online filing between customers assigned to the status quo group and customers assigned to the modified message group. Through our exploratory analyses, we found that older adults (age 64+), those born in Hispanic countries, and those who had assistance filing their forms (i.e., an attorney or preparer) were much less likely to file online.

The results suggest that the sending outreach messages about online services two months before customers’ Green Card expiration dates did not meaningfully affect online filing rates. This could be due to the phrasing, modality, or timing, or it could be that the barriers customers face to using online services are too high to be influenced by light-touch methods. Eliminating ineffective outreach could result in savings, given the costs involved with sending text messages. However, our evaluation was limited by a smaller than expected sample size, so further evidence is needed to corroborate these findings. We were able to highlight groups for whom online filing rates lag behind the average customer, suggesting future avenues for more targeted outreach efforts. Future research could evaluate the optimal combination of outreach that balances message costs.

Notes:

1. Herd, P., & Moynihan, D. P. (2019). Administrative Burden: Policymaking by Other Means. Russell Sage Foundation. https://doi.org/10.7758/9781610448789.
2. Ryan W. Buell, Ethan Porter, Michael I. Norton. Surfacing the submerged State: Operational Transparency Increases Trust in and Engagement with Government. Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, Volume 23, Issue 4, July-August 2021, Pages 745-1004. https://doi.org/10.1287/msom.2020.0877.

Verify the upload date of our analysis plan on GitHub.