Every year millions of people participate in the process of requesting a visa or some type of immigration benefit from the United States Citizen and Immigration Services (“USCIS”). With thousands of immigration applications being sent to USCIS on a weekly basis, and with newly established security protocols for each application, it is no surprise that many applications require a significant amount of time before a final decision is rendered. In fact, it is common for an applicant to wait years before receiving a final decision from USCIS. As a result of this often lengthy procedure, USCIS has been receiving an increasing amount of update requests from applicants that are naturally left wondering about the status of their case. In response to the growing number of these requests, USCIS created new and improved ways for one to check the status of their case.
There are now several ways that enable an applicant to check the status of his case. One possible way is by feeding the applicant’s “receipt” number (which is provided to the applicant very soon after application submission), into the recently upgraded USCIS website found at www.uscis.gov. This “receipt number status check” feature provides the applicant with up-to-date information about their case that was previously only provided via telephone. The biggest advantage of this approach is found in its accessibility, as it is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and it is only a click away. The disadvantage is that the information is often general and lacking details which the applicant may be seeking. Also, not all of the applicants will fully understand the information posted about their case.
Another option for obtaining case status information is calling USCIS directly at 1-800-375-5283. The advantage of this approach is that you can communicate directly with a USCIS representative and ask more specific questions that may not be answered on the Internet. However, one disadvantage is that the phone representatives are only available during US working hours, which are often very inconvenient for applicants on the other side of the world. Additionally, the applicant must be very specific when speaking with the USCIS representative, or else the answers provided may not be useful to or understood by the applicant. Consequently, having an attorney on the phone with the applicant for a 3-way phone call (which is accepted by USCIS) often yields more concrete results. Additionally, an attorney often has access to special USCIS representatives that are extremely knowledgeable in USCIS procedures, thus allowing the applicant/attorney tandem to obtain a wealth of knowledge via telephone.
Another option is setting an appointment with an immigration officer through the “InfoPass” feature available on the USCIS website. The “InfoPass” option is only available to those physically inside the United States, but for those that can utilize this option it can be extremely useful. For example, if an applicant has certain documents that he or she wants to show the USCIS officer or simply wants a more comprehensive explanation from USCIS, then an InfoPass appointment is the perfect solution. The InfoPass appointment is scheduled via the USCIS website by first selecting the appropriate option after clicking on the InfoPass link. The applicant will then be required to enter his or her personal information and then select a desirable date and time for the appointment. A confirmation page with the appointment details must then be printed out and brought to the local USCIS office in the applicant’s area in order to enter the building on the day of the appointment.
A fourth option to obtain information from USCIS is by taking advantage of the Freedom of Information Act, which, if properly utilized, forces USCIS to locate the case status of the applicant and mail the status update to him/her as soon as possible. In order to make such a request, the applicant must complete and send form G-639 to the appropriate USCIS address. The disadvantage of this option is that it is considerably slower than the previous three options mentioned above.
The final option to proactively obtain information from USCIS is via local US Congressman, but such option will probably not be found on the USCIS website. Again, this option is only available to those physically present in the US (as they must be represented by the Congressman in order to make this request). Additionally, this option is typically only used when the applicant is not successful with any of the other aforementioned options. That is, after trying the other four options mentioned above, the applicant does not receive any response from USCIS. Under such circumstances, the applicant can write a letter to his or her local congressmen asking for assistance.
As one can see, there are now many ways to approach USCIS and request information about a pending application. However, effectively and efficiently navigating through these options requires familiarity not only with the options themselves, but also with the details and idiosyncrasies found within each option.
All said and explained in this article does not constitute a legal opinion and does not replace legal advice. Responsibility for using the wordings and opinions conveyed in this article relies solely and entirely on the reader.
This article was written by Dotan Cohen Law Offices, working in the field of immigration law in the United States, Canada, Australia and England.