Immigration department
More and more people land on the soils of the United States every day. The U.S is a free, open and democratic society. People can enjoy freedom of speech, to follow any religion and culture . People from around the world arrive in the U.S. to study, work, and do business. A multitude of nationalities live in this country and some of them decide to stay here permanently or for long years . Most of them are business owners, skilled workers and students and their families . The government has formulated the rules and regulations regarding the status of the aliens . The U.S Citizenship and Immigration Services, USCIS in short which is a part of the Department of Homeland Security is responsible for the functions and providing immigration services and its policies and priorities . Formerly the service was known as the INS, Immigration and Naturalization Service. It became the USCIC within the Department of Homeland Security on 1st March 2003. USCIS has employee strength of about 15,000 Federal employees plus contractors working in around 250 offices comprising of its Headquarters and other field offices all over the world .
The functions of USCIS
The USCIS carries out the adjudication of all petitions and processes relating to US immigration such as
Immigration visa petitions
Naturalization petitions
Applications for Refugee and Asylum
Handling those processed by the service centers
Other adjudications that were performed by INS.
Immigration and Nationality Act
In the year 1952 the INA, the Immigration and Naturalization Act was created . Prior to this many statutory bodies governed the immigration law scattered in many locations . The Law No .82-414 gathered and codified and restructured the immigration law. The law has gone though many amendments since then . INA is in the United States Code which is the collection of all the laws prevailing in the country . USCIS keeps publishing the value enhanced versions of Immigration and Nationality Act and Title 8 of the Code of Federal Regulations with many other legal contents on its web site .
Immigration services & Benefits
The USCIS provides the information regarding immigration services to the general pubic, applicants, authorized representatives, petitioners or community organizations . The benefits overseas are lawful permanent residency, citizenship, employment authorization, foreign student authorization, family or employment based immigration, inter-country adoptions and asylum etc . The office provides answers to questions brought to them by the government agencies, public or special interest groups and the US Congress pertaining to immigration issues .
Humanitarian Benefits
The U.S. Immigration law provides several humanitarian ways to assist those who need shelter or in need of aid to alleviate from oppression and disaster . The USCIS web portal has information on these programs and about the application process . Some of the programs are Asylum, Refugee, Temporary Protected Status, Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act and Violence against Women Act etc .
Immigration legal page
The immigration legal page contains information on laws and regulations and their interpretations connected to immigration and the bureaus connected to immigration under the Department of Homeland Security . Handbooks and guides are also available in this page helping in the process of immigration .
Immigration Overseas Offices
The overseas offices help the Citizens and permanent residents regarding immigration matters when they are outside the US. The USÂ citizens desirous of adopting an orphan can file an application at the Overseas Office for Advance Processing of orphan Petition . US citizens residing outside the US can file a petition for Immediate Relative Immigrant Petition on behalf of certain immediate relatives . Some people from other countries are ineligible to enter the U.S. and when such people apply for a U.S. visa, they may apply for a waiver to overcome the reason for their ineligibility. Some overseas offices may accept such an application.
Welcoming New Immigrants
The US government welcomes new immigrants and has put all the information resources that they may look for in a new website welcometoUSA .gov. The new immigrants can find in this site details regarding the requirements of naturalization, location of English classes in the neighborhood and a copy of the U .S. Constitution. This site is created with a view to help the newcomers to learn about Americas history and civic values, get settled into the communities and participate in American life . There are sections in the site for the new immigrants to know about the state agencies and community and faith based groups . There is a lot of information about the U.S. Government and history, Federal benefits they are eligible for, health care, health, education, employment, childcare, and finances . Another link focuses on volunteer opportunities available for U .S .Citizens and legal immigrants. Immigrants are encouraged to volunteer as volunteering is a wonderful way to feel themselves as a part of their new community .Besides this website, the Task Force on New Americans is available for immigrants through the thousands of public libraries in the country . Civics and Citizenship Toolkits are distributed free to the public libraries. Additional copies can be had at a nominal cost. The tool kit helps the new immigrants learn the questions and answers about the American Government to help them with the Citizenship Test . A Citizens Almanac is presented to about 700,000 people every year who become U.S. Citizens. USCIS has planned a web based training module for volunteers and adult educators on the naturalization process, civics education and the U .S. Government. Training conferences for instructors and volunteers from different regions will equip them teach immigrants all about their new home.
The Immigration Department is committed to make the new immigrants to the U .S feel welcome and the departments goal is to help them. The visa status for the applications for various types of immigrant visas is constantly updated and the applicants can access this information anytime. Guides and interpretations are created with a view to help the people with the process of immigration. The immigration department makes all efforts to make the immigration process smooth and help the new immigrants blend into the American society easily . The offices of the immigration department helps applicants for permanent residency or citizenship to realize their dream of uniting with their immediate families, achieve great financial future through business or employment .
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