General Green Card News

On December 9, 2010, President Obama signed into law the Help Haitian Adoptees Immediately to Integrate Act of 2010 (Help HAITI Act of 2010). This new law will make it possible for certain Haitian orphans paroled into the United States to become lawful permanent residents (LPR) of the United States and get green cards. Applications to get a green card under this law may be filed at any time on or before December 9, 2013.

 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced a new version of  the Application to Replace Permanent Resident Card (Form I-90), is available on the USCIS website.  The new version of the form is dated 8/10/09 and contains more user-friendly features.

Applicants may file Form I-90 electronically (through e-filing), or through the mail to the USCIS Phoenix Lockbox facility.

For U.S. Postal Service:

USCIS
P.O. Box 21262
Phoenix, AZ 85036

For express mail and courier deliveries:

 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it has redesigned the Permanent Resident Card - commonly known as the "Green Card" - to incorporate several major new security features.  The Green Card redesign is the latest advance in USCIS’s ongoing efforts to deter immigration fraud.  State-of-the-art technology incorporated into the new card prevents counterfeiting, obstructs tampering, and facilitates quick and accurate authentication.  Beginning today, USCIS will issue all Green Cards in the new, more secure format.

Below is a list of upcoming naturalization information sessions for legal permanent residents and interested naturalization applicants. Topics covered at these FREE sessions will include:

• naturalization eligibility requirements
• the naturalization process
• the naturalization test
• rights and responsibilities of U.S. citizenship 

 
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Application Support Center (ASC) stand-alone sites will move to a Monday through Friday schedule beginning Nov. 2, 2009.  Stand-alone ASCs are those which are not co-located with other federal offices and which previously operated Tuesday through Saturday.  All ASCs, both stand-alone and co-located sites, will continue to be open from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm.

Please find attached Details of USCIS National Stakeholder Meeting which was held on July 27, 2009.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) reminds special immigrant religious workers, who have a pending or approved Petition for Amerasian, Widow(er), or Special Immigrant, (Form I-360), to file their Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, (Form I-485), on or before Aug. 31, 2009. Special immigrant religious workers who wish to file a Form I-360 petition with an I-485 application should also file on or before Aug. 31, 2009.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that, in partnership with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), it has met all milestones set forth in a joint business plan announced April 2, 2008, resulting in the elimination of the FBI National Name Check Program (NNCP) backlog.

NSC has reported that they are trying to pre-adjudicate cases so when the priority dates become current, an approval notice is sent immediately.

MILITARY ACCESSIONS VITAL TO NATIONAL INTEREST (MAVNI) RECRUITMENT PILOT
The Secretary of Defense authorized the military services to recruit certain legal aliens whose skills are considered to be vital to the national interest. Those holding critical skills - physicians, nurses, and certain experts in language with associated cultural backgrounds - would be eligible. To determine its value in enhancing military readiness, the limited pilot program will recruit up to 1,000 people, and will continue for a period of up to 12 months.