USCIS Extends Relief Measures for Filipino Typhoon Victims

WASHINGTON – U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) reminds those affected by Typhoon Haiyan, which struck the Philippines on Nov. 8, 2013, of agency efforts to provide relief to victims of the typhoon.

Filipino nationals in the United States should visit www.uscis.gov to learn about a series of existing relief measures that may be available to them if requested. These relief measures include:

• A change or extension of nonimmigrant status for an individual currently in the United States, even when the request is filed after the authorized period of admission has expired;
• An extension of certain grants of parole made by USCIS;
• An extension of certain grants of advance parole, and expedited processing of advance parole requests;
• Expedited adjudication and approval, where possible, of requests for off-campus employment authorization for F-1 students experiencing severe economic hardship;
• Expedited processing of immigrant petitions for immediate relatives of U.S. citizens;
• Expedited adjudication of employment authorization applications, where appropriate; and
• Assistance to LPRs stranded overseas without immigration or travel documents, such as Permanent Resident Cards (Green Cards). USCIS and the Department of State will coordinate on these matters when the LPR is stranded in a place that has no local USCIS office.

In addition, USCIS has proactively identified and is expediting pending I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, forms that have been filed by U.S. citizens for their Filipino immediate relatives. Our standard security checks remain in place.

Form I-130 petitioners may check their case status online at www.uscis.gov or contact the National Customer Service Center at 1-800-375-5283 or 1-800-767-1833 (TDD assistance). In addition, a petitioner can sign up to receive automatic case status updates by email as the case is processed. If a Form I-130 petitioner receives a request for evidence or any other type of communication from USCIS, the petitioner’s response must be addressed to the same USCIS Service Center which sent the notice.