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Archived from our former blog, The Beacon.
Five Questions and Answers: How to Address Comments and Complaints to USCIS
Release Date:
Have you ever had a comment for or complaint about USCIS? The following five questions and answers were put together to provide those we serve with information on how best to address comments and complaints regarding various aspects of the work that we do:
1. What should I do if I feel that I have received rude or unprofessional treatment by an officer or security guard at USCIS?
If you believe that you or someone you represent has been treated improperly, please ask to speak to a USCIS supervisor. There will always be a supervisor on duty. If, for whatever reason, you cannot speak to a supervisor, there are additional ways that you can submit a complaint, listed below.
2. How do I file a complaint with USCIS?
There are several ways that a customer may file a complaint with USCIS:
If you call the NCSC and feel that you are not receiving proper service, you may ask to speak to the representative’s supervisor. You can also write the Customer Service Directorate at:
USCIS Customer Service Directorate
Contact Center Enterprise Office
111 Massachusetts Avenue NW
Mailstop 2260
Washington, DC 20529
When you write the Customer Service Directorate, it is helpful if you include the following information in your letter:
4. I have information about misconduct or criminal activity of a USCIS officer, who should I notify?
Please report this information to the DHS OIG:
You should submit your comment to the appropriate office (i.e. if it is a suggestion about a service center, you can send your comment to the service center). The mailing addresses for offices can be found on the “Find a USCIS Office” page.
1. What should I do if I feel that I have received rude or unprofessional treatment by an officer or security guard at USCIS?
If you believe that you or someone you represent has been treated improperly, please ask to speak to a USCIS supervisor. There will always be a supervisor on duty. If, for whatever reason, you cannot speak to a supervisor, there are additional ways that you can submit a complaint, listed below.
2. How do I file a complaint with USCIS?
There are several ways that a customer may file a complaint with USCIS:
- If you are at a USCIS office and feel that you are being mistreated or are unhappy with the service you received, it is best to raise your concerns with a supervisor while you are still at the office. The supervisor will be able to immediately address your concerns before you depart the office.
- You may also write USCIS with your complaint. The mailing addresses of USCIS offices can be found at the “Find a USCIS Office” page. USCIS reads and takes seriously every complaint that we receive.
- Customers are welcome to submit their complaint directly with the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG). Contact information for the DHS OIG can be found on USCIS’s “Contact Us” page. This information is also posted in the waiting rooms of USCIS Field Offices.
- You may raise your concerns to USCIS Headquarters. Headquarters information can be found on the “Directorates and Program Offices” page of www.uscis.gov.
If you call the NCSC and feel that you are not receiving proper service, you may ask to speak to the representative’s supervisor. You can also write the Customer Service Directorate at:
USCIS Customer Service Directorate
Contact Center Enterprise Office
111 Massachusetts Avenue NW
Mailstop 2260
Washington, DC 20529
When you write the Customer Service Directorate, it is helpful if you include the following information in your letter:
- Date and time of the call
- The phone number you used to call the NCSC
- The name or ID number of the representative you spoke with
4. I have information about misconduct or criminal activity of a USCIS officer, who should I notify?
Please report this information to the DHS OIG:
- Toll-free DHS Hotline at 1-800-323-8603
- By fax at (202) 254-4292
- Via e-mail to dhsoighotline@dhs.gov
- By mail to the following address:
Department of Homeland Security
Attn: Office of the Inspector General
245 Murray Drive, Building 410 Stop: 2600
Washington, D.C. 20528
You should submit your comment to the appropriate office (i.e. if it is a suggestion about a service center, you can send your comment to the service center). The mailing addresses for offices can be found on the “Find a USCIS Office” page.
Comments (86)
The new process changes are really helping the immigrant community. Are there any changes coming up for the below areas:-
1. Pre-adjucation Filing for Pending I-140 Approved applicants? Will you allow them to file for EAD and AP21 in the process of waiting for visa numbers to be allocated?
2. Any efforts to scrutinize the porting of Eb3 applicants to Eb2 Applicants?
3. Any efforts to find the employers who are filling for Eb2 applications for dummy projects? We have seen a bigger trend for people to port from Eb3 to EB2 based on dummy/fake documents causing the Eb2 numbers spiked really high. The Eb2 Category is for REALLY EXCEPTIONAL ability people but now EB3 Folks are joining with False data (Premium) Processing getting into the Line. Please Scrutinize the I-140 premium processing for EB2 Atleast.
4. Any efforts to reduce the backlog of EB2 ( highly skilled) applicants waiting?
5. Any efforts to reduce the backlog for processing of H1b ( Anywhere from 4-5 months) currently.
6. Any efforts to electronically accept the Applications data like most of the consulate office ( USA consulate in India) is doing to reduce the effort of Mailroom routing and data entry level errors/efforts.
My son had to watch his mother be degraded by a USCIS officer, and I couldn't do a damm thing about it.
I have been here legally going on 10 years, with no green card, not even a chance to file my I485. My son 15 can't even get a part time job like the rest of his friends. I have paid over $100000 in taxes, and I have to be worried about when my visa will expire next, if the DMV will accept my paper work to renew my license. Miss job offers because I am trapped in my job.
America is no longer the place for immigrants. If the legal folks go else where then there will be no need for a call center, address to complain to because you have lost all your customers. Who in this day and age writes a letter? Email people!
Something isn't right with the system...
As we know that the plight of employment based highly skilled immigrants who are stuck in 5 to 10 years of visa line usually goes unheard. Please see below two paragraphs I have quoted from a proposal made by Gary Endelman and Cyrus D. Mehta to solve this crisis of priority date which can not only provide relief to the principal applicants but also to their spouse (http://cyrusmehta.com/news.aspx?SubIdx=ocyrus20103925436). I strongly believe that a supportive action of USCIS will go a long way in not only improving the life of these legal immigrants but also aid the economy of United States. Thanks!!!
"Third, the authors propose that we should count only the principal beneficiaries of I-140 or I-130 petitions and not family members under the employment or family-based quotas. There is nothing in INA § 203(d) that explicitly provides authority for family members to be counted under the preference quotas. While a derivative is “entitled to the same status, and the same order of consideration” as the principal, nothing requires that family members also be given numbers. This ambiguity in INA § 203(d) provides the Executive with an opportunity to exclude family members against the employment or family quotas, which could potentially resolve the priority date crisis significantly.
Finally, Endelman and Mehta also propose that existing ameliorative provisions that Congress has specifically passed to relieve the hardships caused by crushing quota backlogs be interpreted in a way that reflects the intention behind the law. For example, § 106(a) of the American Competitiveness in the 21st Century Act allows an H-1B visa holder on whose behalf a labor certification has been filed 365 days prior to the maximum time limit to obtain an H-1B visa extension beyond the six years. §106(a) ought to also allow the spouse of an H-1B who is also in H-1B status to be able to obtain extensions beyond the six years without having his own labor certification. This used to be allowed, but, since a restrictive interpretation of the USCIS in 2005 that only allowed dependent H-4 spouses to get the benefit of the extension, is no longertolerated for spouses who have their own H-1B status and the USCIS has retracted.Now,both spouses need to have labor certifications filed on their behalf to obtain the benefit of 106(a), which is not necessary and absurd.The statute itself has more flexibility and speaks of “any application for labor certification …in a case in which certificationis required or used by the alien to obtain status under section 203(b) of such Act." Under this interpretation, the H-1B husband who does not have his own labor certification can still use his H-1B wife’s labor certification on a derivative basis to file for adjustment of status.This interpretation is very much in keeping with spirit of AC 21 which is to soften the hardship caused by lengthy adjudications and we certainly have that now with respect to China and India, as well as worldwide EB-3.The current interpretation placed upon AC 21 Section 106(a) is contrary to the intent of Congress. It is not enough to say that the H1B spouse for whom a labor certification has not been filed can change to non-working H4 status. Given the backlogs facing India and China in the EB-2, as well as worldwide EB- 3, it is simply unrealistic and punitive to deprive degreed professionals of the ability to work for years at a time but force them to remain here to preserve their eligibility for adjustment of status."
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