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The Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) conducts administrative review of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) officers’ decisions regarding immigration benefit requests in order to promote consistency and accuracy in the interpretation of immigration law and policy.  We have appellate jurisdiction over approximately fifty different types of immigration applications and petitions.      

The AAO Practice Manual describes rules, procedures, and recommendations for practice before the AAO.  It is organized into seven chapters, including:

The final rule, Notices of Decisions and Documents Evidencing Lawful Status, published on Oct. 29, 2014, is effective today, Jan. 27, 2015. This rule amends regulations governing when USCIS will:

• correspond with,
• issue a notice of decision to, or
• provide documents to

an applicant, petitioner, or requester, and/or an attorney of record or accredited representative.

If you request either initial or renewal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), you must submit Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization and required fees. USCIS will reject your request if you fail to submit Form I-765, the required filing fee, Form I-765 Worksheet, and Form I-821D, Consideration of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.

The Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) has updated the FAQ page of its official website with a new keyword search function, Search FAQs. Users may now search the FAQ page by using a single keyword or exact phrase to identify items in the FAQ database that correspond to keywords or characters specified by the user. A Tip sheet has been developed to assist with use of the Search FAQs tool. To access the FAQs page and Search FAQs Tip Sheet, click here.

USCIS recently published revised Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker. The revised Form I-129 is labeled with an Oct. 23, 2014, edition date. You can download the revised form and details about who may file Form I-129 from the USCIS forms website.

WASHINGTON—The Department of Homeland Security and Department of State have launched the next stage of an aggressive campaign to make clear the national security, border security, and public safety priorities that are now in effect, and to clarify the criteria for filing requests for deferred action under the Executive Actions recently announced by President Obama.

Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson has extended Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for eligible nationals of El Salvador for an additional 18 months, effective March 10, 2015, through 

The link below shows the changes that have been made to the Indian Reciprocity Tables since the last publication.

WASHINGTON - Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson has redesignated Syria for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and extended the existing TPS designation for the country from April 1, 2015, through Sept. 30, 2016.