By: Jennifer Fabian-Verzosa, Esq.

MANY PEOPLE SEEM TO BE CONFUSED, SO LET’S DO A FACT CHECK.

I have also been getting this question a lot in my law practice, and the fear is well understood: Anytime any type of immigration office closes, the processing work has to be transferred somewhere. There is certainly a conceivable risk that certain services are likely to be affected or less prioritized, and delays or backlogs go hand-in-hand with changes in employees and departments handling cases.

Ever since USCIS announced that it is closing international offices overseas later this year , intending immigrants worldwide, including their families in the United States, have been concerned about their pending and future immigrant petitions.

Fortunately, I can confirm that the U.S. Embassy Manila is not closing . Only USCIS International Field Offices worldwide are closing.

 Only the USCIS International Manila Field Office located on Roxas Blvd. (in the same compound as the U.S. Embassy Manila) is permanently closing on July 5, 2019 , not the embassy. The two offices sound similar, but are not the same thing . USCIS stands for “United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.” The Manila field office will redirect its case log for certain immigration services to the U.S. Embassy Manila , as it started doing so already on May 14, 2019. You can read the USCIS announcement about the closure here.

WHAT EXACTLY DOES A USCIS INTERNATIONAL FIELD OFFICE DO?

These international based offices have historically provided essential immigration services to U.S. Citizens, lawful permanent residents, and military families abroad. Not every office provides the full range of services other offices provide, but for the most part they are similar. For example, these offices have assisted military families stationed abroad on United States armed forces bases with naturalization, permanent residency paperwork, and fingerprinting services.

The international offices have also assisted with handling certain I-130 Relative Petitions in the past, including those for emergencies, petitioners who live and work abroad, and those filed by U.S. military families stationed abroad.

In addition, these offices have been there for time-sensitive services for U.S. lawful permanent residents abroad who have lost their green cards, or applicants requesting travel documents due to the need for imminent travel. Many offices provided useful walk-in services.

The U.S. Embassy Manila reportedly will be taking over all these services, the full extent we do not reliably know at this time. What we do know is that the U.S. Embassy Manila is already very busy.

 In 2018, the U.S. Embassy Manila was the largest issuer of immigrant visas of all U.S. embassies/consulates in Asia , and the third largest issuer of immigrant visas in all the world (third to Mexico and the Dominican Republic, respectively). [ FN1 ]

Our  IMMIGRATION LAW OFFICE  assists families both in the United States and all over the world! We understand Tagalog and provide remote immigration legal services and easy Skype meetings for families abroad. Contact us for assistance by calling  +1(619) 431-2407  |  1-888-623-5444  (Toll-Free Nationwide), or email:  contact@law-jf.com .

** Jennifer Fabian-Verzosa, Esq. is a Filipino-American and founding attorney of the Law Office of Jennifer Fabian-Verzosa , an immigration law practice that provides local and remote immigration assistance to clients throughout the U.S. and worldwide.**

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