USCIS

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Earlier known as INS. USCIS is responsible for providing immigration benefits to applicants. Homepage http://wwww.uscis.gov

USCIS Approves 10,000 U Visas for 5th Straight Fiscal Year

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has approved the statutory maximum 10,000 petitions for U-1 nonimmigrant status (U visas) for fiscal year 2014. This marks the fifth straight year that USCIS has reached the statutory maximum since it began issuing U visas in 2008.

Each year, 10,000 U visas are available for victims of certain qualifying crimes who have suffered substantial mental or physical abuse and are willing to help law enforcement authorities investigate or prosecute those crimes. A U visa petition requires certification of assistance from law enforcement.

USCIS Questions & Answers: Victims of Criminal Activity, U Nonimmigrant Status

Questions & Answers: Victims of Criminal Activity, U Nonimmigrant Status

The U nonimmigrant status (U visa) is set aside for victims of crimes who have suffered substantial mental or physical abuse and are willing to assist law enforcement and government officials in the investigation or prosecution of the criminal activity. Below are Questions and Answers pertaining to U nonimmigrant visas.

Policy Memo on Handling Certain Family-Based Automatic Conversion and Priority Date Retention Requests Pending a Supreme Court Ruling

This policy memorandum (PM) provides guidance for properly assigning priority dates in those instances where a petitioner requests that the priority date from a separate, previously filed petition, be applied to a later filed family-based second-preference “B” petition (F2B) or seeks adjustment of status in the F2B category, based upon an originally-filed family-based second-preference “A” petition (F2A) pursuant to Public Law 107-208, the Child Status Protection Act (CSPA).

USCIS Meeting with the American Immigration Lawyers Association

On October 23, 2013, the USCIS Service Center Operations Directorate hosted an engagement with AILA representatives. USCIS addressed questions related to DOMA, provisional waivers and TPS grantee applications among several other topics.

The attached information provides a review of the questions solicited by AILA and the responses provided by USCIS. 

USCIS Policy Memorandum on Parole Requests

This policy memorandum (PM) amends Chapter 21.1 of the Adjudicator’s Field Manual (AFM) to ensure consistent adjudication of parole requests made on behalf of aliens who are present without admission or parole and who are spouses, children and parents of those serving on active duty in the U.S. Armed Forces, in the Selected Reserve of the Ready Reserve or who previously served in the U.S. Armed Forces or Selected Reserve of the Ready Reserve.

For more details on this memo please click the attachment

E-Verify's New Enhancement Helps Combat Fraud

E-Verify added an enhancement that will help identify and deter fraudulent use of Social Security numbers (SSNs) for employment eligibility verification.  E-Verify is now able to detect patterns that indicate an SSN may have been used fraudulently.  The enhancement strengthens the integrity of the E-Verify program by implementing standards that have proven effective in protecting individual identities.