USCIS Updates Guidance on Case Assistance and Feedback

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services today announced that it is updating Volume 1, Part A, of the USCIS Policy Manual to reflect the available avenues for case assistance or feedback. Specifically, the update: Recommends that stakeholders submit changes of address through the self-service tool available in their USCIS online account as soon as possible following a move or when an update is required; Updates information on our current case assistance tools and resources to reflect the expansion of online tools and resources; Includes a link to our Contact Us webpage, where stakeholders can find information on how to contact us, including detailed, program-specific assistance information; and Updates and clarifies information on providing feedback to USCIS. The Policy Manual update also changes the language on USCIS’ response time goals to service requests from 15 calendar days to 15 business days. The 15-business day timeframe is current practice, so the update aligns the policy manual to match existing practice. We are also removing the timeframe on processing priority service requests but are retaining priority processing of certain categories of service requests. These changes are to better align stakeholder expectations with agency response times. USCIS added a chapter dedicated to changes of address to promote the successful delivery of correspondence. This update includes guidance on address discrepancies to reflect that we do not update the requestor’s address unless there is a specific request to change it.