US immiagration updates from USCIS

Please find attached a USCIS Update and Q&A advising customers of a change in the filing location and filing instructions for the Application to Replace a Permanent Resident Card (Form I-90). Applicants will now have to file supporting documentation with their applications. Prior to this change, applicants were instructed to bring their supporting documentation to their biometrics appointments. The Direct Mail address for the Form I-90 has also been changed so that applicants must now file their Form I-90 and related supporting documentation with the USCIS Lockbox facility in Phoenix .



Please share this information with your colleagues and affiliates and please let me know of any issues or questions that arise.


--Text of ATTACHED DOCUMENTS --

USCIS Update April 27, 2009


USCIS Revises Filing Instructions and Direct Mail Program for the Application to Replace Permanent Resident Card (Form I-90)
Applicants to File Supporting Documentation with Applications to Lockbox in Phoenix

WASHINGTON — U.S. Citizenship and Immigrations Services (USCIS) will publish a Federal Register notice tomorrow that will change filing location and filing instructions for the Application to Replace Permanent Resident Card (Form I-90). The revised filing instructions require applicants to submit supporting documentation with their applications. Prior to this change, applicants were instructed to bring their supporting documentation to their biometrics appointments. The notice also revises the Direct Mail address for the Form I-90. Applicants must now file their Form I-90 and supporting documentation with the USCIS Lockbox facility in Phoenix .

This change in filing location affects all I-90 applicants filing a paper form, including those applicants filing the I-90 because their previously issued card was never received or because their existing card has incorrect data due to a USCIS error. This notice does not affect applicants filing an I-90 electronically or whose place of residence is outside the United States .

Beginning on April 27, 2009, applicants must submit their Form I-90 and supporting documentation to the USCIS Lockbox facility in Phoenix for initial processing, using the following addresses:

USCIS
P.O. Box 21262
Phoenix, AZ 85036

For USPS Express Mail and Courier Service deliveries, use the following address:

USCIS

ATTN: I-90

1820 Skyharbor Circle S Floor 1

Phoenix. AZ 85034


The Federal Register notice and updated Form I-90 instructions can be found at the ‘Related Links’ section of this page. For information on electronically filing your Form I-90 please visit our website at www.uscis.gov.

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Questions and Answers April 27, 2009

USCIS Revises Direct Mail Program for the Application to Replace Permanent Resident Card (Form I-90)
Applicants to File Supporting Documentation with Applications to Lockbox in Phoenix

Background

U.S. Citizenship and Immigrations Services (USCIS) will publish a Federal Register notice tomorrow that will change filing location and filing instructions for the Application to Replace Permanent Resident Card (Form I-90). The revised filing instructions require applicants to submit supporting documentation with their applications. Prior to this change, applicants were instructed to bring their supporting documentation to their biometrics appointments. The notice also revises the Direct Mail address for the Form I-90. Applicants must now file their Form I-90 and supporting documentation with the USCIS Lockbox facility in Phoenix .

This change in filing location affects all I-90 applicants filing a paper form, including those applicants filing the I-90 because their previously issued card was never received or because their existing card has incorrect data due to a USCIS error. This notice does not affect applicants filing an I-90 electronically or whose place of residence is outside the United States .

Questions and Answers



Q. What changes have been made to the filing instructions?

A. Previously customers were asked to bring supporting documentation with them to their Application Support Center (ASC) or biometrics appointment. Applicants must now mail supporting documentation with their Form I-90 to the Lockbox in Phoenix .

Q. How will filing I-90 applications with a new lockbox impact customers?

A. Customers filing an I-90 application will experience little visible effect due to this change in filing location. USCIS customers previously filed Form I-90 with a lockbox facility in Los Angeles . The Los Angeles facility is closing and the filing location for the Form I-90 is changing to a USCIS lockbox facility in Phoenix . The Phoenix lockbox facility is operated by J.P. Morgan. The Department of Treasury selected JPMorgan to be the sole lockbox provider for USCIS immigration forms.



Q. Who will be responsible for adjudicating I-90 fee waiver requests for cases filed at the Lockbox?

A. USCIS staff at the Phoenix Lockbox facility will review applications received with fee waiver requests and will determine whether a fee waiver can be granted, based on the circumstances and evidence supplied by the applicant. Fee waivers will be adjudicated in accordance with established USCIS guidance based on the circumstances and evidence supplied by the applicant.



Q. What types of I-90 applications will be filed at the lockbox?

A. All paper-filed I-90 applications will be filed at the Phoenix Lockbox, including applications that are being filed because the card was issued but was never received (“b”) or because the card is incorrect due to an error by USCIS (“d”). This does not affect applicants filing an I-90 electronically.



Q. What happens if I mail my application to the wrong location?

A. Applicants should make every effort to mail their I-90 applications to the correct address. USCIS will forward your Form I-90 to the Phoenix Lockbox facility for the first 30 days after the Federal Register notice announcing the change in filing location is published. Any applications forwarded will be considered properly filed when received at the Phoenix Lockbox facility unless the application is rejected for other reasons.



After this 30 day transition period, any Form I-90 which is sent to a location other than the Phoenix Lockbox facility will be handled as follows:

· If an I-90 application is mailed through the US Postal Service (USPS) and is sent to the previous USCIS Los Angeles Lockbox address, the USPS will forward it to the Phoenix Lockbox. This forwarding period will last approximately 90 days.

· If an I-90 application is sent to the previous USCIS Los Angeles Lockbox address via a courier service such as FedEx or UPS, it will be returned to the sender by the respective courier service. Courier services will not forward a package to another address.

· If an I-90 application is filed at a USCIS Service Center , it will be rejected without prejudice and returned to the sender with a note explaining that the applicant must file the application at the correct filing location. The note will include the correct mailing address.



Q. What should I do if I already mailed in my application without the supporting documentation prior to this change?

A. If you have already mailed in your application without the supporting documents, USCIS will contact you through the mail with a Request for Evidence (RFE) Notice. The RFE will tell you where to mail your supporting documentation.



Q. Can the Form I-90 still be filed electronically?

A. Form I-90 can still be filed electronically. For information on electronic filing, please visit our website at www.uscis.gov.



-USCIS-

Obama Seeks to protect credit card users

A great article in the Cristian Science Monitor that talks about Obama putting the credit card companies on notice that he wants to see change and it was not unsurprising that the tone of the article was that the credit card companies were resiting. What We find to be quite ludicrous is that just like the sub prime crisis their bad lending is a major part of the problem and fueling other problems like divorces and bankruptcy of the little guy caught in their excellent marketing traps and they are using the fact that the problem that they help cause is the reason that they should be allowed to continue doing what they were doing in the first place.

We hope that some where along the line there are some class action suits against these banks and they put them out of business.


The Credit Card companies had a agenda and they won for the last 8 years, now the pendulum turns and heads the other way, and should it lop off a few of these banks that are part of the problem of this historic time that is seeing unprecedented numbers of bankruptcy and divorces to the little guy, fueled in part by their legal loan sharking practices, so be it!

Car Searchs in US, More work for Cheap Lawyers?

A new ruling by a court reverses prior ruling concerning the scope of searches that police can make when making traffic stops and searching cars, we think this will make lots of work for cheap lawyers as they will again have a way to fight illegal searches of cars.

Unless as I understand it the law enforcement officers must now have a very good reason that there is something illegal going on like smelling pot smoke or seeing something in plain sight in order to search things not in plain sight, they no longer have the right to search things that do not pose a immediate danger to them. Like for instance a backpack in the rear of the car like a SUV where it would be very hard for the people in the car to get direct access.

The ruling said basically that the guy was in custody in the patrol car on a charge of driving on a suspended sentence that there were no other readily apparent law violations and that there was no further reason to search as the person was all ready in custody and was no longer a threat and that anything in the car was no longer a direct threat to the police so they should have not searched.

The cops were using any reason they could come up with to pull somebody over and then if they found something illegal like a broken tail light or no light on the license plate and they would do a full on search of the car looking for other things to charge them with like joints in the back seats in the cushions and were getting allot of arrests

I think that if I was pulled over for something today the first thing I would do would be to get out of the car which of course they will not want you to do as this will only allow them a look inside the car they will not be able to search anything except my person and then they should be limited to only searching for weapons. Lets see?

We welcome your comments and all are accepted and published that are not totally absurd or crude.

Fast Divorce

Fast divorces it is a amazing thing the law just moving jurisdictions can make such a huge difference in a divorce, and can be a cheaper way to get one as different areas have different rules. Guam as I understand it has the equivalent to the quickie marriage of Las Vegas in only two weeks you can get a divorce if both sides are in agreement the cost can be less that $10,000. A fast and cheap divorce compared to the time and or money that you would pay else where.

I was recently reading a article talking about how the finical crisis was a major factor of the upswing in divorces and other publications are saying that because of the financial crises that many that might be looking at divorce as a solution are not doing it because they cannot afford to separate because of money. Many are postponing their future happiness because of a lack of resources I think that for some of these that if they were better informed that they could find other options that could result in a cheap divorce which of course would only be stage one but as they say the way to eat a elephant is one step at a time.

In international divorce law, the stakes are really high as the differences in the cultures can make or break you depending on which side of the cultural divide that you are. Some countries are man dominated and so favor the man and some are women dominated and so favor the women so it really pays to do some research before hand if you are thinking that your marriage is heading this way with foreign separations you also have legal issues with immigration visitation and conflicting laws

International Divorce US Cheap Lawyers?

International Divorce US Cheap Lawyers?



With the current downturn in the economy that is affecting the entire world many international families are, just like in marriages the US, seeing strain on their relationships and some of them are seeking international divorces. Trying to find a cheap international divorce lawyer is nearly impossible that has any experience dealing with cross border legal disputes and in most cases that involved 2 different countries you are going to need to have an attorney in both countries.

When most people are getting married they do not look at the implications and complications when they seek divorcees involving 2 or more countries, until after they are married. When we are in love we are hard wired to look at the people we love with different lens, this is a instinctual behavior that encourages mating, unfortunately, this does not take into effect that the person that we love might be from a foreign country. With love and marriages we look at these to be for most of us lifelong relationships, so we don’t look at these issues until after we are in a international marriage.


If you can it is way better to negotiate the divorce settlement before you go to court using lawyers as proxy fighters in a cross jurisdiction legal battle is going to bankrupt most families.