So, USCIS has once again extended the closure of its offices. What does it mean for you?
Watch this video, and I'll tell you more. Hello, friends. So, USCIS has once again extended
the closure period of its offices all over the US. What does it mean for you? We'll discuss
this in this video. If you’re here for the first time, make sure to subscribe to our
channel. Click that bell to be notified. I'm going to create videos every single week to
update you. We're going through some crazy times right now and changes are happening
literally every single week. My name is Jacob Sapochnick, and I'm an immigration attorney
located in San Diego, California. And we represent clients in all 50 states. The purpose of my
channel here is to educate you and empower you with the knowledge about immigration and
the changes that are happening every single day right now. So, let's dive into the video.
USCIS has announced earlier this week that its offices are going to be closed once again
extended until June 4th. And as we remember, it started on March 18 when they shut down
offices, and then we thought it's going to open, first notice was April 3rd, and then
it was extended through May 4th. And now, this extension is to continue the closure
until June 4th. That means that there's no in-person interviews for Adjustment of Status.
There's no asylum interviews, there are no biometrics. There are no in-person appointments
for Infopasses, none of that is happening until after June 4th. So, what does it mean
for you? Remember that the filing of cases continues. So, USCIS still works in the background.
So, if people want to file cases like adjustments, or citizenship, you can continue to do so
right now even if they are physically closed for appointments. People are wondering what's
going to happen with their appointments that are going to be rescheduled? We have clients
that are supposed to have interviews in April, from late March, all these appointments are
going to be automatically rescheduled by USCIS. You don't have to do anything, they will send
you new notices in the mail. The only thing is if you had an Infopass appointment scheduled,
those are the appointments that you're going to have to reschedule yourself. And again,
Infopass is when you make an appointment to see an immigration officer just to get information
about your case but all the other appointments like interview appointments, biometrics, citizenship
ceremonies, all these things are going to be rescheduled. So, what does it mean in practical
terms? What we believe is that when they will finally reopen, you're going to see significant
backlog. People are going to be waiting for their appointments. People are going to be
waiting for their interview notices. Things are just going to be delayed and we know that.
So, what can you do now? People ask me, “Should I file my citizenship? Should I file my Adjustment
of Status? So, first of all, remember, everything costs money. So, if you're financially able
to do so, if you're able to pay for all the bills and everything, I mean, right now we're
all struggling, then file it, I do believe that if you are able, and you are qualified
for your adjustment, or for your citizenship, just go ahead and file it because we don't
know what's going to happen after the summer. We don't know if fees are going to increase.
Right now, we know that the fees are the way they are. So, if you're able to file, just
go ahead and file. They are working. They will issue receipt notices, will take some
time, but they will issue those. And then when the offices are going to reopen, then
all the appointments are going to be rescheduled and will be sent to you automatically. So,
I know it's a lot of stress and people are worried and people are worried that they are
going to miss their appointments, but they're going to reschedule those appointments. You're
going to be receiving them, make sure that your address is updated. So, if you moved
or if you changed your mailing address in your application, make sure you update USCIS
because once they're going to be sending those notices, you don't want to be missing them.
If you miss your appointment your case could be denied. So once again, USCIS extended office
closures until June 4th. This is for the safety of the public and also the safety of their
employees. That means that all appointments that are scheduled for May will be automatically
rescheduled for a later date. Once again, if you have questions about this, post them
in the comments below. Once we have more new information, we’ll update on the video and
also on our website. And we’ll post an article, there's an article we wrote about the closures.
And I will link that article in the description of our video. And once again, people have
a lot of questions about this issue and many other issues so we have started a private
Facebook group just for that, to be able to answer your questions. I encourage you to
join our group. There's a link, again, on the description of this video. In the group,
we’ll be able to answer more questions. Members are sharing their experience with
closures with delays and so it's a great community to be able to share how you feel and also
see that you're not alone in this, there's other people who go through the same process.
So, join our Facebook group, and I will update you in the next video. So, thanks for watching.
Once again, if you're here for the first time, make sure to subscribe to our channel. Click
that bell to be notified. And once again, we'll see you in our next video. Thanks for
watching.