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Citizenship and Immigration Services

Managed by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the United States’ lawful immigration system is one of the most generous in the world.

  • Retention Memo to USCIS Concerning Houston Asylum Office

    This memorandum notifies USCIS of complaints, describes allegations, and informs USCIS that CRCL retained these complaints for investigation.

  • The CIS Ombudsman's Webinar: 2022 Annual Report

    On July 19, 2022, the CIS Ombudsman hosted a webinar highlighting its 2022 Annual Report to Congress.

  • The CIS Ombudsman's Webinar Series: USCIS' Backlog Reduction Efforts

    On June 22, 2022, the Office of the Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman (CIS Ombudsman) hosted a webinar to discuss USCIS' backlog reduction efforts.

  • CIS Ombudsman's Recommendations to USCIS 2022

    CIS Ombudsman's Recommendations to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services 2022.

  • The CIS Ombudsman's Listening Session: USCIS API

    Publication page for readout for listening session on developing a USCIS API.

  • The CIS Ombudsman's Webinar Series: Employment-Based Immigrant Visas

    On May 26, 2022, CIS Ombudsman hosted a webinar about USCIS' efforts to use all available immigrant visa numbers and more related to this fiscal year.

  • Lockbox Contact Tip Sheet

    The CIS Ombudsman has worked with USCIS on the following tip sheet on when and how to contact a USCIS Lockbox.

  • DHS/USCIS/PIA-071 myUSCIS Account Experience

    U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) operates myUSCIS Account Experience to engage benefit requestors and legal representatives, while they navigate and complete the immigration process, through an authenticated digital account experience. MyUSCIS Account Experience offers a personalized, authenticated, and secured account for benefit requestors and legal representatives, and replaces all aspects of the public facing USCIS Electronic Immigration System (USCIS ELIS).

  • DHS/USCIS/PIA-010 Person Centric Query Service

    The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) developed the Person Centric Query Service (PCQS) to allow users to submit a single query and view all transactions involving an immigrant or nonimmigrant across multiple DHS and external systems.

  • DHS/USCIS/PIA 009 Central Index System

    The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) maintains the Central Index System (CIS). CIS is a repository of electronic data that contains an index of basic data elements related to an individual as he or she passes through the immigration process. CIS contains information on the status of applicants and petitioners seeking immigrant and non-immigrant benefits, including: lawful permanent residents, naturalized citizens, United States border crossers, aliens who illegally entered the United States, aliens who have been issued employment authorization documents, individuals who petitioned for benefits on behalf of family members, and other individuals subject to the provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). Recently USCIS migrated records from a legacy mainframe database to a cloud platform and renamed legacy CIS to CIS 2. CIS2 continues to look and function like the CIS mainframe application, with subtle formatting enhancements.