On January 7, 2025, the Office of the Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman (CIS Ombudsman) sent out this stakeholder message:
The Office of the Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman (CIS Ombudsman) has translated two tip sheets that explain when to submit a case assistance request.
- The Case Inquiry Date Tip Sheet explains that our office generally cannot provide case assistance if it is before your U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) case inquiry date and explains how to find that date. On May 16, 2024, we published the case assistance alert: Check your case inquiry date before asking for our help with USCIS processing delays.
- The Types of Cases the CIS Ombudsman Can and Cannot Help With Tip Sheet is the list of common issues that we can and cannot help with, which is also listed in English on our How to Submit a Case Assistance Request page.
Translations of these tip sheets are now available in the following six languages:
- Arabic (العربية)
- Simplified Chinese (中文)
- French (Français)
- Haitian Creole (Kreyòl ayisyen)
- Portuguese (Português)
- Spanish (Español)
Our Resources page has these tip sheets and other translated resources on case assistance requests. Our Case Assistance Infographic is available in 13 languages, and videos explaining our case assistance request process are available in Spanish.
Our office is working to expand translations of CIS Ombudsman tip sheets, resources, and other materials.
Please note that if you want to request case assistance from our office, you must complete DHS Form 7001, Request for Case Assistance in English; we currently cannot process requests completed in other languages.
More Information
Go to our How to Submit a Case Assistance Request page for the most up-to-date information on requesting our help. We also have a Tips for Submitting a Case Assistance Request tip sheet in English that addresses specific situations like submitting large files electronically, signing on behalf of clients, and requests involving multiple form types or family members.