On March 18, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration services announced that they were temporarily suspending in-person services. This will be for all field offices, asylum offices, and Application Support Centers (ASCs). The decision was made in an effort to slow down the spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) disease that is impacting the world. Previously, USCIS stated that the offices could open on April 1, given the circumstances. However, with increasing cases across the world, it was decided that the public closures will be extended, with offices to reopen on April 7. It is important to know that there is always the possibility that the opening of these offices can extend even further.
Employees in these offices are continuing to perform limited, essential services that do not require face-to-face contact with the public. They may also perform the following:
- Send notices to applicants and petitioners with scheduled appointments and naturalization ceremonies impacted by the closures
- Send interview cancellation notices and automatically reschedule asylum interviews
- Automatically reschedule ASC appointments upon normal operations
