|
INS
Service Center Operations in Aftermath of September 11, 2001
September 18, 2001
Following is the text of an email from Steve Bucher of the INS Immigration
Services Division to the Directors of the INS Service Centers. Note that these
directives relate ONLY to the Service Centers, and not the
District Offices. Discussions are underway with INS Field Operations at HQ with
respect to similar issues at the District Offices.
"Directors--As we discussed during the conference call on Thursday,
Service Centers have agreed to work closely with AILA and other customer groups
to assist and facilitate with some of the processing issues following upon last
weeks events in New York. VSC met with AILA on Friday and developed the attached
set of operational guidelines. While it is certainly clear that the majority of
these impact issues will affect Vermont, the rest of you may also be
peripherally involved. For the sake of uniformity, please endeavor to apply the
attached guidelines as appropriate. If you think you will have any difficulty
with this, please let me know. Thanks for your assistance in this effort."
ATTACHMENT
1. As per our initial cc mail to AILA/ACIP, expedite requests for the
affected businesses and attorneys can come directly via cc mail to a BPL SCAO.
We have asked that the liaisons of both groups act as the conduit for these
requests.
2. On the date that the USPS and private couriers are back in the air and
fully functioning we add an additional 7 days to create a 'window' during which
we will accept cases as timely filed. (this would include not denying cases
for abandonment) This 'window' will begin on 9/11 and run through 7 days
after the USPS and private couriers are fully functioning. (this is for our
entire case load, not just the affected areas of New York)
3. For the WTC and the surrounding buildings, we have run CLAIMS sweeps
and will provide affected attorneys and businesses with duplicate notices as
requested.
4. We will not execute any abandonment denials on WTC (and surrounding
buildings) cases until sometime in the future. This future date will be set
when we determine that no other action is warranted on these 'left-over' cases.
5. When requested to reconstruct cases we will either do this ourselves
if the volume is light or we will request the files and then offer space to
these groups to send their own personnel to the VSC for the purposes of copying
the material and assembling the duplicate files.
6. All 'anomalies' can be addressed directly from AILA and ACIP to our
supervisors.
7. We have provided these groups with an electronic template of the
information we will need to reconstruct notices/files. The chart can be
distributed to their membership and then sent to us via cc mail.
|
