How might we reinvent myUSCIS when almost anything is on the table?

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When our team was asked to reinvent the myUSCIS portal, we were given an ambitious goal with few parameters. There was no predetermined feature or solution to build—just an opportunity to rethink what the experience could be.

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Working with the Program Manager and Design Lead, we translated the broad mandate into three key problem spaces base upon prior research:

• Current intake experiences and disconnected downstream processes create operational inefficiencies, increase adjudication burden, and reduce confidence in the information flowing through the immigration ecosystem.

• The current myUSCIS experience does not adequately adapt to the diverse needs, backgrounds, skill levels, and use cases of applicants and representatives, resulting in confusion, reliance on external support, and barriers to successful participation.

• The current myUSCIS ecosystem is fragmented, difficult to navigate, and heavily shaped by technical and operational complexity, resulting in confusion, distrust, and increased effort for both applicants and USCIS staff.
   

Each problem statement represented a different opportunity to improve the service and became its own starting point for ideation. This gave participants enough direction to focus their thinking while intentionally leaving the solution space open.