USCIS ISSUES POLICY GUIDANCE ON CUSTOMER SERVICE AND CONFIDENTIALITY PROTECTIONS FOR CERTAIN NATURALIZED U.S. CITIZENS
On June 12, 2024, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued guidance in the USCIS Policy Manual that interprets that confidentiality protections end at naturalization, which will allow naturalized U.S. citizens - specifically, Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) self-petitioners and those seeking or with approved T and U nonimmigrant status - the ability to fully access e-filing and other customer service tools.
Termination of the protections after naturalization will allow a naturalized citizen to request a replacement naturalization certificate in the case where they may have misplaced this document. It would allow the citizen to ask or answer questions regarding their intent to be a financial supporter for parole applicants.
Persons eligible for and recipients of survivor-based immigration relief, including VAWA self-petitioners and those seeking or with approved T and U nonimmigrant status, are entitled to protections under 8 U.S.C. 1367. The confidentiality provisions were enacted to protect noncitizen victims from their abusers’ use of the immigration system as a tool to further harm and control them and to limit disclosure of their requests for immigration protection. After a noncitizen victim becomes a U.S. citizen, their abuser no longer has the same means to use the immigration system against the victim. Continuing these safeguards after naturalization causes case processing delays and is more of a hardship than a protection mechanism. This will allow more freedom in exchanging information between the naturalized citizen and USCIS and in turn, increases customer service support from USCIS to the naturalized citizen.
See more details in the USCIS alert.
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