I recently emailed CIS in Seoul, Korea whether or not it is still possible to file a petition with the CIS office in the Seoul Embassy.

To whom it may concern,

I would like to know if I, a US citizen, am able to file a petition I-130 for my future wife, who is a citizen of the Republic of Korea, at the US embassy instead of processing it through the USCIS offices in the United States. We plan on getting married in the near future, and would like to know if this is an option available to us. I am currently employed at Evergreen International School near Cheong-ju, and am in Korea under an F4 visa.

I am asking this question because of the recent Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act and USCIS's recent response to this new law that indicates that I will not be able to file a petition I-130 in Korea.

Please let me know if this option is still available and also other options that I may have to bring my spouse over to the United States.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,
Daniel Yi

~ ~ ~

Sir,
We are accepting I-130 petitions for immediate relatives. You can make an
appointment when you are ready to file at this e-mail address.

Regards,
Correspondence Officer
DHS/CIS
Seoul, Korea

I will confirm this later with a phone call/fax to the CIS office in Seoul to make sure that I am able to file a petition I-130 in Seoul, instead of having to mail it back to the States.

I should make it clear that the US Embassy in Seoul, Korea has a CIS office on the 3rd floor that is listed as an overseas immigration office, according to the USCIS website.

I contacted the CIS office over the phone and they confirmed that they are still allowing filing for petition I-130. When I mentioned about hearing news of other embassies and consulates not being allowed to accept petitions, CIS knew immediately that I was talking about the embassy in Japan (which is where this whole issue was discovered) CIS told me that they were still allowing for filing of petition I-130 since Seoul, Korea has a CIS office INSIDE the embassy/consulate, while other embassies and consulates DO NOT have CIS offices, thus the reason why Japan was forced to stop accepting I-130s

Contact your embassy/consulate and see if they have a CIS office either inside or nearby. Your best source of information would be from the CIS office abroad itself.

Please refer to this link to see if your embassy/consulate has a CIS immigration overseas office

https://egov.immigration.gov/crisgwi/go?act....office_type=OS

aznsamiam,

This is good information, thanks for posting it, because apparently some USCIS overseas offices - Bangkok for one, which is the USCIS District Office that the Seoul Sub Office falls under - is not accepting I-130 petitions.

Yodrak