Mr. Herro said that the process took about four months, and that customers might have to wait six months for the diamonds because of a backlog of orders.
In spite of an expected lull in demand, employers and researchers predicted that the limits would quickly be reached again this year in part because of backlogs from last year.
By Friday, some auto dealers were already suspending the promotion or saying they would do so this weekend because of backlogs and related problems processing the last-minute surge from consumers.
Officials said these numbers had yet to appear on official lists because of backlogs caused by the unprecedented numbers, but insisted they would meet the deadline of processing them by 11 September.
Now, he says, Indian and Chinese workers may have to wait years to file that paperwork because of backlogs in the system.
Plans to put the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative into effect two years ago were postponed because of a significant backlog in passport applications and delays getting sufficient staff and equipment in place.
Citizenship can take as long as 10 years because of a backlog of applications.
"Now we're standing in line because of the backlog of requests.
"We're hearing the same from all of the agencies because of the backlog," she said.
Because of a backlog, it took more than a year just to get the DNA analyzed.
Tension between labor and management is high, the study concluded, because of a backlog of more than 100,000 grievances.
