The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ (USCIS) Digital Operations Modernization, led by Michael Catania, is a 2025 Service to the Citizen Award Winner in Category 4: Using Innovative Technologies to Deliver Simple, Seamless, and Secure Services.

Michael Catania has played a pivotal role in transforming the technical backbone of immigration services at USCIS. As a performance and analytics specialist and network engineering lead, Catania has introduced advanced observability solutions and real-time monitoring capabilities that have dramatically improved the reliability and efficiency of critical systems serving hundreds of thousands of immigration applicants.

His efforts were key to modernizing the H-1B visa registration system during the 2025 season, which faced a historic volume of over 780,000 applications. In response to previous system outages, Catania’s team built an end-to-end business flow monitoring platform that unifies ten different application teams, offers real-time oversight, and ensures immediate alerting and resolution of technical issues. This overhaul reduced downtime, prevented errors, and created a more transparent and fair experience for applicants.

Catania also led the rapid deployment of monitoring tools for the G-325 biographic form, a high-priority White House initiative, within just one week. His work enabled real-time performance analytics, guaranteed system uptime with strict service-level agreements, and translated technical insights into actionable strategies for leadership and staff.

Through these efforts, Catania has redefined what effective IT service looks like in government: invisible when it works, but critical to public trust and success. His behind-the-scenes innovation has removed barriers, enhanced the applicant experience, and positioned USCIS as a model for secure, seamless digital government services.