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ResourcesVisa & Immigration LawUS Immigration LawUSCIS Bangkok Not Accepting I-130 Petitions from October 18, 2019

USCIS Bangkok Not Accepting I-130 Petitions from October 18, 2019

Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing USCIS. That is the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service and specifically the local field office here in Bangkok Thailand. Now we have done some videos previously on the Trump Administration's announcements that they will be closing USCIS offices outside of the United States and this recent video, as the title suggests, is a follow-on with respect to that topic. 

I recently was corresponding with United States Citizenship and Immigration Service and an automated email response came out and in that email response it stated the following: "Please be informed that our Office is Permanently Closing on December 31, 2019. The last day that we will accept applications and petitions and be open to the public is October 18th, 2019. After October 18th, we will only respond to the email inquiries that relate to a case that is currently pending with our Office. After October 18th, US Embassy in Bangkok will assume responsibility for some Services previously provided by USCIS to individuals residing in Thailand. Please see the chart below for more detail.

So the thing to take away from this video; it is kind of a sad day. USCIS is closing in here Thailand and as a result it is not going to be possible for folks to do what was called a locally filed I-130 petition through the field office of USCIS and that is a significant benefit to American expats here in the Kingdom who were seeking Visa benefits, notably marriage visa benefits for their foreign spouses to go back to the United States. The reason that it was such a benefit is because it was quite a bit faster process overall whereas a usual petition, a non-locally filed case, usually requires filing in the United States and there is a lot of delay associated with mailing things in. There is a larger caseload that has to be processed through the service centers in the US and just generally it took longer whereas these type of cases you can file on one side of the street and finish the visa application through the US Embassy here in Bangkok on the other side of the street; it was quite a truncated process compared to processing through the US. That has come to an end. It will no longer be possible as of October 18th to avail oneself of those benefits here in the Kingdom of Thailand.