USA Green Card Immigration Blog

Recently, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) made an announcement that it will host open houses all over the country. Community stakeholders and the public from around the country will be invited to participate in the open house program. These open houses have been hosted to provide the attendees with information on the agency’s programs. The agency believes that its partnership with stakeholders will be strengthened through these open houses.

During the announcement made on the open houses, Alejandro Mayorkas, USCIS Director mentioned that USCIS offices have been opened to reveal the transparency in their immigration services to the general public.

Through this program the attendees will not only be able to meet the USCIS staff, but will also be able to watch mock naturalization interviews live. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services invited entries for the National Children’s Art Project based upon the theme “We Are America.” As part of the open house, children’s artworks that were received by the agency have also been displayed in the field offices.

The open house series was commenced by USCIS Director, Alejandro Mayorkas on October 4, 2010 at the USCIS Baltimore Field Office. On November 3, 2010, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services hosted open house at the Chicago District Office as part of the open house series. The open house was attended by the fifth graders of Louis Pasteur Elementary School. A competitive game on U.S. history and civics was conducted for the children by the agency. The game was followed by the citizenship ceremony of nearly 50 citizens.

USCIS will continue to host open houses until November 19, 2010 at 32 field offices, including Fresno, Las Vegas, New York city, Honolulu, Denver, Buffalo, EI Paso, Detroit, Dallas, Houston, Boston, Atlanta, New Orleans, Cleveland, Portland, and Charlotte. The agency will end the open house series at its field office in San Juan Field on November 19, 2010.

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On October 14, 2010, a new field office was opened by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in Holtsville, Long Island. The grand opening was commemorated by a ribbon cutting ceremony, which was presided over by the Director of USCIS, Alejandro Mayorkas along with Andrea Quarantillo, USCIS New York District Director, and Charles Akalski, the new Holtsville Field Office Director.

Director Mayorkas expressed his pride in opening the new USCIS field office in Holtsville. He also stated that USCIS is working hard towards offering an excellent customer service by providing accessible locations all over the country.

Following Director Mayorkas, Andrea Quarantillo, USCIS District Director mentioned that the USCIS customers in Suffolk, Nassau, and Queens Counties need not travel to other USCIS field offices anymore for fingerprinting and other immigration services, thanks to the new Holtsville office.

The location of the new USCIS office was chosen on the basis of its accessibility to all major traffic routes. The new USCIS field office is fully equipped and can serve up to 400 USCIS customers from Suffolk, Nassau, and Queens Counties per day. This new 47,000 square foot field office has been opened by USCIS to provide its customers with customer-friendly, easily accessible, and more efficient offices. In the past three years, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has opened its field offices in many other states across the country, including Florida, Texas, North Carolina, Michigan, Massachusetts, Hawaii, Colorado, and New Hampshire.

USCIS customers can now fix up appointments with Immigration Services Officers through the InfoPass customer service tool that the new field office offers. Further, the new office also has a large waiting area, a special room for hosting naturalization ceremonies, as well as rooms to carry out immigration interviews. Around 100 federal and contract employees who previously worked for the USCIS’ field office in Garden City have been assigned as staff for this new field office.

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According to the recent announcement by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the applicants filing an application for employment authorization, Form I-765 have got revised filling instructions and addresses. The Form I-765 may be filed by individuals who are temporarily in the United States and eligible for employment authorization.

This announcement by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is intended to centralize the form and fee intake. This makes the initial processing of application and fee intake more efficient and effective to the public. The change in filing location will help in the overall transition of forms from service centres to USCIS lockbox facilities.

Based on the classification under which they are filed, the Form I-765 applications beginning from February 24, 2010 must be submitted at one of the USCIS lockbox facilities or the USCIS Vermont service centre. Further information regarding this can be found in the updated form I-765 instructions and at the website www.uscis.gov.

Incorrectly filled applications for employment authorization will be forwarded to the USCIS Phoenix and Dallas lockbox facilities by the USCIS Service centres. The incorrect files will be kept there for the first 30 days, until March 26, 2010. After March 26, 2010, applications incorrectly filed at USCIS service centres will be returned to the applicant. The applicants will also receive a note asking them to send the form I-765 to the correct location.

Those who opt to receive an email or text message regarding the acceptance of their application for employment authorization by the USCIS must complete an E-Notification of an application/petition acceptance form G-1145 and attach it to the first page of the Form I-765 application. When submitted under certain categories the form I-765 may be electronically filed (e-filed) with the USCIS. The eligibility to submit an e-file application for employment authorization, form I-765 can be checked in the USCIS website.

Revisions to the Form I-601, application for Waiver of Ground of Inadmissibility, have been announced by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). As per the revisions made to the application for Waiver of Ground of Inadmissibility, from January 4, 2010, individuals infected with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) are admissible to the United States and they also don’t have to file the Form I-601 due to HIV infection.

In the new version, USCIS has also declared the revised filing instructions and addresses that are to be followed by the individuals filing Form I-601. The basic idea behind all the efforts taken to change the filling location is to shift the intake of benefit forms from USCIS local offices and Service Centres to USCIS Lockbox facilities. USCIS aims at providing customers with more proficient and effectual initial processing of applications and fees by centralizing form and fee intake to a Lockbox environment.

The filing location changes for applicants located in the United States have been put into effect from 1/27/2010. For instance, the USCIS Vermont Service Center takes in applications from people who have an approved Form I-360 in several categories, such as a self-petitioning spouse, a legal permanent resident, or T nonimmigrant’s trying to adjust their status.

On the other hand, applicants from outside United States as usual can file their forms for Waiver of Ground of Inadmissibility with the with the U.S. Embassy or consulate where they are applying for a visa.

Applicants filing for Form I-601 at a Lockbox facility can also opt to receive an email or a text regarding USCIS acceptance of their application. For this the applicant only needs to attach an E-Notification of Application to the first page of the application.

USCIS offices plan to forward the incorrectly filed Form I-601 applications to the Lockbox facilities, where they will be retained till 2/27/2010, before being sent back to the applicant.