USCIS Temporarily Closed their Local Field Offices Due to Coronavirus!

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced that they are temporarily closing their local field offices until at least April 7, 2020. USCIS is the immigration agency in the United States responsible for the processing of applications for immigration benefits such as green card applications, citizenship applications, TPS applications, asylum applications and much more.

USCIS initial made the announcement that their local offices would. Temporarily close on March 18, 2020. According to their first announcement, USCIS suspended all local operations from March 18, 2020 until April 1, 2020. USCIS was forced to extend the temporary closure until at least April 7, 2020 due to the spreading of the coronavirus. According to the Agency’s announcement, immigration officers continue to perform duties that no involve contact with the public. They are also available for limited emergency appointments.

All appointments scheduled at a local USCIS field office before April 7, 2020, will automatically be cancelled. Any appointment for a pending green card application, citizenship application, naturalization ceremony, and for biometrics, for example, will be automatically cancelled. USCIS will send notices to the applicants and petitioners to inform them of the cancellation. Once the local offices open to the public, USCIS will automatically re-schedule the cancelled appointments and issue new appointment notices.

USCIS and all other immigration agencies have not however completely shut down. USCIS is still accepting and processing new and pending immigration applications. We strongly encourage anyone thinking of applying for an immigration benefit to proceed with their application.