Hello, everybody. USCIS has recently updated its contact center phone system.
What that means is that there's some big changes to the way you can
make an inquiry on your case, check the status of your case, and also some changes
to the way you can reschedule your biometric appointment. We'll talk about all these things,
all these changes in this video. So what are you waiting for? I'll see you on the other side.
Hello, everybody. And welcome back to our immigration channel. This is the place
where you get the most up to date, immigration news, immigration updates, and everything else
that you need to make your immigration journey less stressful. My name is Jacob Sapochnick,
and I'm an immigration attorney located in San Diego, California. And we help clients
in all 50 states. If you have any questions or you need immediate help with your case, you know what
to do. Use this phone number text me 6194834549. We're here to help you. So let's jump right into
the video. This is an important video because many of you have application cases pending with
USCIS as the Immigration Service inside the United States. Whether it's your green card application,
a work permit, an extension of your status. It is important to understand how to communicate with
USCIS and how to make an inquiry or expedite your case if you need to. First of all, we're going to
talk about the updated USCIS contact center. So UCS recently has updated its contact center phone
system to no longer require numerical prompts. It's completely speech-enabled, or interactive
voice response system. The biggest change that USCIS has recently implemented is that you have to
go through the interactive voice response system first before you get a live agent. And many,
many people get frustrated because sometimes you really have to speak to a live agent. The reason
these changes are being implemented at the moment is because they have a very large volume of calls,
people are frustrated with the backlogs, case delays, they don't have the human power to be
able to respond to these calls, and therefore they've implemented the system. Also, applicants
that actually need to speak to a tier 2 supervisor will no longer be transferred automatically based
on requests. Instead, a USCIS contractor will determine if your request is urgent or regular
and then will decide if it's going to go to a tier supervisor. Urgent requests will get a call back
from a supervisor within 48 hours, and regular requests will get a call back within seven days.
This is based on the most recent update from USCIS. So let's talk about some basic tips to
navigate the USCIS contact center. The center essentially comprises the IVR interactive voice
response system, and live USCIS contractors that are there to assist as well. Once you're
done with that system, they essentially have two tiers. Tier 1 combines USCIS contract employees,
which is live basic assistance. Remember that tier one employees can only give you general
basic information that cannot go too deep into your case.
For that, you need to speak to a tier two level supervisor. Now remember, as I mentioned before,
there is no longer the option to automatically be transferred to a tier two supervisor.
The contract employees will determine if your request is urgent or regular. And you'll get
a callback. It is important for you to know that because so many applicants are frustrated because
they're not able to get through the system. And therefore I'm making this video to explain to
you how things work at the moment. So now let me give you some tips on checking your case status
and placing an inquiry with USCIS. This is based on the most recent updates,
how you should do it right now. So first of all, if you try to call the phone system, the USCIS
phone system, and you get frustrated because you cannot get through and you need urgent answers, I
would suggest to try their online tool also known as Emma, this tool is available on their website.
It's almost like a chat. It's an interactive chat. And you're going to be able to get a
lot of information by getting in there, even your case status most detailed information, so I highly
recommend trying the Emma chat before calling the USCIS phone contact center. If this doesn't work,
I would recommend placing an E-inquiry directly on the USCIS website. Once again, the link to the
E-inquiry, E-request is also in the description of this video. Here are five tips that I recommend
to give you the best results when trying to make an inquiry with USCIS. Tip number one,
when making an inquiry with USCIS always make the inquiry early in the week, Mondays or Tuesdays.
The reason we want to do that is because remember, if you're waiting for a callback
and it's gonna take them 48 hours, even five days, the earlier in the week you do that.
The sooner you get the call back when making your inquiry later in the week, you're going to be
getting the results of your inquiry probably for the following week, which obviously will
delay the whole thing. So remember, when making inquiries do that early in the week. Number two,
When making an urgent inquiry, remember the urgent inquiries are the ones that are requesting
a call back within 24 hours or less. Never make those inquiries on a Friday. Because if you do,
that inquiry is no longer going to be considered urgent. And who knows when those agents are going
to get back to you. So for urgent inquiries, always, always, once again, make them early in
the week. Also early in the morning. Number three, if you're calling about multiple family members,
let's say you have a case for your father, your mother, your sister, make sure you limit your
inquiries to three matters only, ideally to one matter call. So you get the most focus and the
most attention to get the inquiry results that you need. So my recommendations when you call
USCIS to focus on one matter only per call. This way, you get the best results of your inquiry.
Number 4, when leaving a phone number. Make sure it's always a cell phone for a callback. Remember
I mentioned before if it's an urgent inquiry, you're going to get a call back within 48 hours.
If it's a regular matter, you're going to call back within seven days. When leaving a phone
number. Don't leave them a phone number at work that has an extension, always give them your cell
phone so when they call you back, you're going to be able to answer their call, because they're most
likely won't leave you a voicemail. Remember, a callback should always be to a cell phone.
Number five, very important tip, make sure your phone settings are not blocking unknown callers.
You can change your settings because USCIS and other government agencies typically call you back
from an unlisted number usually says the unknown caller. If your phone is not accepting unknown
caller numbers, you're not going to be able to receive the callback. And you're never going
to be able to make that inquiry or check on your case status using the callback system information.
So a very important tip. And we have quite a few clients who are frustrated and say they never call
me back. Well, check your settings on your phone. And make sure that you accept unknown callers as
well because that's how you see who is going to call you. And finally, some important changes
for rescheduling your biometric appointments. Many of you are going through the process of
renewing your work permits or extensions on your visitor visas or even going through the
Green Card process you have to do your biometrics appointment. Well, here are the following changes:
one of the main processing units in Virginia is now shut down. And as a result, they're no
longer accepting written requests to reschedule biometrics. So the new procedures require that
you reschedule your biometrics by contacting the USCIS contact center. As we mentioned at
the beginning of this video, what it is is by calling them and rescheduling your biometric,
not in writing anymore. So hopefully these tips were valuable and helpful for you guys
because a lot of you are getting frustrated with dealing with USCIS so a few tips to help you
navigate the system slightly a little bit better. If you’re here for the first time Don't forget to
subscribe to our channel, click the notification bell so you don't miss any of our videos in any
of our updates. And also give us a big like, so YouTube will be able to share this video
with more people just like you and also if you need a consultation, if you’re stuck, if your case
is not moving, make sure you text me, 619-483-459, set up the consultation. I'm
here for you. Thank you for watching, and I'll see you in our next video.