The Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman (CIS Ombudsman) recently published new resources on its website to raise awareness of the office’s mission and to reach a broader population of stakeholders. The CIS Ombudsman is dedicated to improving the quality of citizenship and immigration services delivered to the public by providing individual case assistance, identifying systemic issues, and making recommendations to improve the administration of immigration benefits by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
“I applaud the Administration’s commitment to identifying barriers that impede access to immigration services and benefits, a focus closely aligned with the CIS Ombudsman’s statutory mission,” said Phyllis A. Coven, CIS Ombudsman. “The President’s recent executive orders open the door for enhanced collaboration with USCIS and opportunities to maximize our office’s contributions to creating a more responsive and transparent immigration system.”
The CIS Ombudsman is committed to engaging with the public through a multilayered outreach approach, with an emphasis on outreach to vulnerable and underserved populations. The CIS Ombudsman engages regularly with a broad range of stakeholders across the country to understand their concerns and identify trends and areas in which individuals and employers encounter problems when seeking immigration benefits from USCIS. The CIS Ombudsman has also released new resources to assist customers who contact USCIS for assistance. These resources include:
- A tip sheet on how to communicate effectively with the USCIS Contact Center;
- An informational video (in English) that provides an overview of the CIS Ombudsman’s mission and highlights examples of the types of case assistance provided by the office; and
- Translations of the CIS Ombudsman’s informational brochure and case assistance infographic in the following languages: Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, French, Haitian Creole, Portuguese, Russian, Somali, and Vietnamese. These materials provide step-by-step instructions on how to submit a request for case assistance to the CIS Ombudsman using Form DHS-7001, along with an overview of the request for case assistance process.
Established by Congress as part of the Homeland Security Act of 2002, the CIS Ombudsman is dedicated to improving the quality of citizenship and immigration services delivered to the public by providing individual case assistance, engaging with immigration stakeholders across the country to gather feedback, identifying systemic issues, and making recommendations to improve the administration of immigration benefits in the United States.
For more information, and to access additional materials to help individuals navigate the immigration process, visit the CIS Ombudsman’s resources webpage.