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Family-based immigrant petitions must now be filed only with USCIS

January 23rd, 2007
by VJ News

Effective immediately, in accordance with the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, overseas consular posts are no longer authorized to accept or adjudicate I-130 petitions. This also affects many intending immigrant spouses of US Citizens that wished to file their I-130’s at their local Consulate, a process also known as “Direct Consular Filing” or DCF.

The recently passed Adam Walsh Act has led to changes in the procedures American citizens resident abroad will follow if they wish to sponsor an immediate relative (spouse, parent or minor child) for an immigrant visa. According to this legislation, all family-based immigrant visa petitions (I-130s) must be screened to ensure the petitioner has not been convicted of specified criminal offences against a minor.

By law, consular officers do not have access to this information. Thus, all I-130 petitions for family-based immigrant status must now be filed with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) office responsible for the petitioner’s place of residence (that is, the place of residence of the American citizen who is filing the petition). Responsibility for the acceptance and approval of immigrant visa petitions rests solely with USCIS. Although consular offices at U.S. embassies and consulates are no longer authorized to accept I-130s, they will continue to provide guidance to American citizen petitioners and their family members.

As noted, American citizens should submit their I-130 at the USCIS office responsible for their place of residence.

Please see the following memo from the US Department of State for more information:

http://travel.state.gov/visa/laws/telegrams/telegrams_3120.html

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 23rd, 2007 at 9:15 pm and is filed under Family Immigration. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.