Immigration and firm news

USCIS introduces New Case Tracking Features

One of the most frustrating aspects for immigrants and their families is figuring out the status of their cases pending before USCIS, the courts or the State Department that runs the National Visa Center and US Consulates abroad where visas are issued. The USCIS 1800# customer service number has been a quagmire for years, as any immigration practitioner or applicant can tell you. Run by a third party contractor, the phone tree alone can lead a caller to neverland. Then, if you are lucky to get a live person, the representative talks too fast, reads from a script and is confined to answering questions from the script because of limited access to the government’s databases unless you are savvy enough to convince the person to hand your call off to a more senior officer. Then one has to wait another 60 days to follow up further if your case is not resolved quickly.

I mentioned in an earlier blog post, USCIS Expands Case Inquiries Through eRequest,the different ways a person can check on a pending application. Now, the agency has introduced some new features to My Case Status (where you plug in your case number to view status of your specific case). Applicants can now track card production and US Postal Service tracking via email. In addition, the National Customer Service Center is expanding its hours to Saturdays 9am-5pm (1800 375-5283) for routine questions only. However, to move up the chain of more qualified officers, it is best to call during the week.