If you apply for immigration petitions, chances are good that you will eventually need to visit a local USCIS office in order to get help completing your application. Your local immigration office provides many important services, including processing petitions, taking care of petition requirements, and helping immigrants with immigration petitions. In fact, there are many types of USCIS offices across the country, each playing a unique and important role in the immigration process:
- Field Offices. This type of immigration office takes care of most immigration applications (except for asylum applications). If you have a scheduled interview as part of your immigration petition, you will likely need to visit a USCIS field office. This type of USCIS office also helps with customer service and information.
- International Offices. This type of immigration office helps anyone who needs immigration help outside the US.
- Application Support Centers. If you need to get fingerprinting or similar services as part of your immigration petition, you will likely be referred to an application support center.
- Asylum Offices. Asylum seekers in the US are generally sent to this type of immigration office for interviews and a limited number of other immigration services.
- The National Records Center. Rather than being an immigration office that processes immigration petitions, this USCIS office is unique in that its sole job is to handle Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and to process those requests.
- The National Benefit Center and Service Centers. These USCIS offices are the recipients of many immigration petitions and applications. If you send in an immigration petition, it will likely be processed by a service center or by the benefit center. Generally, there is no need to visit these offices as part of your petition, but it is useful to know that these offices are working to handle your applications and petitions.
If you need to contact or find an immigration office, you will first need to determine which type of USCIS office will best suit your needs. You can do this by contacting the USCIS for help or by reviewing the role of different types of offices above. You can then find a local USCIS office in your area by visiting the USCSIS website (http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.eb1d4c2a3e5b9ac89243c6a7543f6d1a/?vgnextchannel=e39c0b89284a3210VgnVCM100000b92ca60aRCRD&vgnextoid=e39c0b89284a3210VgnVCM100000b92ca60aRCRD), which lists detailed information about the role of each type of USCIS office as well as contact information for every office. In general, you may find that you can resolve many immigration issues online or by calling the USCIS. If, however, you need to visit an immigration office, you can easily find one through the USCIS website.
