Below, please find a quick summary of temporary changes to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in response to COVID-19:
- Planned furlough of 13,400 USCIS employees temporarily halted
- Field offices have started reopening and resuming some interviews and other in-person services with social distancing and other health & safety precautions
- Throughout closures, Service Centers and lockboxes have continued to accept applications
- During office closure USCIS was re-using some biometrics (fingerprints) but as Application Support Centers (ASCs) reopen, USCIS will stop doing this
- Copies of signatures accepted in place of original, “wet ink” signatures
- USCIS is allowing extra time to respond to Requests for Evidence (RFEs), Notices of Intent to Deny (NOIDs), and other responses
- COVID-19 and public charge: As of August 31, 2020, USCIS has not indicated whether it plans to partially implement the new public charge rule everywhere except New York, Connecticut, and Vermont, after the Second Circuit narrowed the injunction during the COVID-19 public health emergency to just the Second Circuit
- USCIS’ Contact Center, reachable online at https://egov.uscis.gov/e-request/Intro.do and by phone (800-375- 5283), is supposed to be available for emergency requests for service, including requests to schedule Infopass appointments in time-sensitive, urgent situations, for instance emergency advance parole.
If you would like to find out more about these updates or need assistance with your immigration case, do not hesitate to contact our offices in San Jose (408-261-6405; [email protected]) or Los Angeles (818-325-7551; [email protected])