FAQ About Immigration Service
United States Citizenship and Immigrations Services (USCIS) is part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that performs most of the administrative functions related to the process of immigration and naturalization. The goal of USCIS is processing applications efficiently to eliminate case backlogs, promoting national security and providing customer services through the National Customer Service Center (NCSC), the Internet and Application Support Centers.
Q. Who runs immigration services?
A. A director who reports to the Deputy Secretary for Homeland Security runs USCIS.
Q. Who works for immigration services?
A. Immigration services consists of about 20,000 employees working at 250 offices worldwide and at various service centers in the U.S.
Q. Who handles immigration enforcement?
A. Immigration services do not include immigration enforcement, which is handled by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement department.
Q. Who funds immigration services?
A. Mostly user fees, rather than the usual direct congressional appropriations fund USCIS.
Q. When do immigration services get involved?
A. USCIS focus is centered on the integration of immigrants at the point when they first become permanent residents and when they are ready to begin the naturalization process.
Q. What functions do immigration services handle?
A. The following are the main administrative functions USCIS performs throughout the immigration process:
Naturalization petitions
- Immigrant visa petitions
- Asylum and refugee applications
- Management of immigration services and benefits
- Settling claims for asylum
- Issuance of employment authorizations
- Processing petitions for temporary workers who are non-immigrants (H1B visas)
- Granting permanent resident status
- Granting U.S. citizenship
Q. In what languages do immigration services provide information?
A. All information is provided in Spanish as well as English.
Q. How does one attain citizenship?
A. A legal, permanent resident is eligible to become a citizen of the United States after 5 consecutive years of holding a Green Card without leaving the country for at least 6 months. Marriage of a legal permanent resident to a U.S. citizen reduces the eligibility requirement to 3 years, provided the resident has been living with the spouse for at least 3 years.