U.S. Moves to Close Overseas Immigration Offices

By Louise Radnofsky

WASHINGTON—The Trump administration is moving to close its 23 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services offices overseas, directing people seeking immigration services to offices in the U.S. or State Department outposts instead.

USCIS said shuttering the offices is intended to save millions of dollars, which will be used to help clear up the backlog of domestic applications for legal-immigration programs.

The international offices provide services to people—including U.S. citizens living overseas who want to bring a spouse or dependent as an immigrant to the U.S.; spouses of deceased U.S. citizens; and some lawful permanent residents as well as deportees seeking re-entry to the U.S.

The offices employ around 70 people, according to USCIS, and are currently in cities in 20 countries, including Mexico, China, India, South Africa and the U.K.

A USCIS spokeswoman said Tuesday that the agency was only in preliminary discussions about the move.

“The goal of any such shift would be to maximize USCIS resources that could then be reallocated, in part, to backlog reduction efforts,” said USCIS spokeswoman Jessica Collins.

The move comes as enhanced vetting requirements and demands for more face-to-face interviews have created “crisis-level delays” at USCIS offices in the U.S., the American Immigration Lawyers Association said in a recent report. The domestic offices handle everything from petitions for immigrant workers, to green cards for family members, and visas for human-trafficking victims.

Lynn Lee, an immigration attorney with a special focus on filing immigrant petitions at USCIS offices abroad, expressed concern about the plans.

“We would love for USCIS to alleviate that backlog, but it’s not going to be done by taking the most streamlined and efficient office in their entire organization and eliminating that office,” she said. “It’s a serious loss.”

Ms. Lee said that in her experience, processing times at the overseas offices had been extremely quick, including responses within 24 to 48 hours of filing a petition from an employee with knowledge of the case.

USCIS said overseas services would likely be transferred to the U.S. or would be handled by traveling consular officers, with limited help from the State Department, which already provides some services in areas where USCIS doesn’t have a presence.

The agency, which is a unit of the Department of Homeland Security, said that the vast majority of refugee interviews wouldn’t be affected since they are conducted by the U.S.-based refugee officer corps who travel overseas, and the State Department handles applications for visas made by foreign nationals in foreign countries.

USCIS said it would work closely with DHS and the State Department to “ensure no interruption in the provision of immigration services to affected applicants and petitioners.”

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