How to reach USCIS

How to reach USCIS; 3 best ways

USCIS (the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) processes all the immigration-related applications including the I-765; Application for Employment Authorization for OPT/ STEM OPT students. OPT or STEM OPT students might want to reach out to USCIS if they have questions or concerns about their applications. How can petitioners or applicants reach USCIS? What will be the best ways?

Related blog post: How to file Form I-765 online for OPT, STEM OPT

There are several times that I tried to call USCIS but I had an impression that it is almost impossible to get a hold of a real person representative of USCIS. Thankfully, I was given instructions to resolve issues for international students as a DSO and real cases can be found in the OPT Forum. Having said that, students do not have these resources to resolve their issues.

Therefore, this blog post will outline the 3 best ways to reach USCIS based on the official USCIS newsletter that was sent out on May 23, 2022, titled How To Best Communicate With USCIS Right Now. If you are looking for ways to reach USCIS for your petitions/applications, this blog post will be helpful for you.

Contents


Online Tools

USCIS starts off by saying to make sure to review what is already out there. You may think you already know that you can go to the official USCIS website but not many students take advantage of USCIS’s dedicated pages for each form including Form I-765. It has the most accurate information about the form as well as the frequently asked questions sections.

This is why I direct OPT and STEM OPT applicants to the USCIS website to confirm the filing fee and filing address regardless of where I work- at my office and here on the SEVIS SAVVY website. In the same perspective, I always include the original immigration regulations so students know what’s the basis of the information or statement I say on this website. Please remember that it’s always a good practice to look at the original source of the information.

USCIS provides not only general information about the forms but also online tools that petitioners/applicants can complete to request services online. For example, case inquiry forms include…

  • Case outside normal processing time: Check out the related blog post below to learn what to do if you encounter delays in the EAD processing.
  • Did not receive notice by mail
  • Did not receive card by mail
  • Did not receive document by mail

Related blog post: I haven’t received my EAD; OPT EAD processing time

Service Request forms are including…

  • Appointment Accommodations
  • Typographic Error: Check out the related blog post below to learn what to do if your EAD card has errors.

Related blog post: What to do when your EAD card says the wrong OPT start date

If you have inquiries other than the aforementioned issues, check out the USCIS Contact Center webpage which well outlined all the resources that USCIS provides. If you have case-specific inquiries that you cannot find answers to from the general information page, you can also reach out to Emma, USCIS’ online virtual assistant.


Ask Emma

Emma may give you general answers at first but a good thing about reaching out to USCIS through Emma is that Emma can connect you to a live representative if the case inquiry is complicated enough. It is worth noting that Emma will not connect you to a live representative only because you ask her to do so:

Please note Emma will not connect you to a live representative just because you state that you want to speak with someone. You must establish a need to speak with a representative; that is determined by the information you seek.

How to best communicate with USCIS right now

The best practice is to be specific about your needs to the point that Emma decides that it is out of her range to answer your questions and connect you to a live assistant. Personally, I believe chatting with Emma is the best way to seek answers to your inquiries unless you find information on the USCIS official web pages. I had students who were able to be connected to real humans through Emma regarding their online STEM OPT applications. To learn more about this real case, be a SAVVY member today and check out the OPT forum.

If you are desperately looking for answers to your specific case, you may wonder how many chats will be forwarded to real humans from Emma. According to the USCIS, “twelve million people asked Emma questions” and the USCIS Contact Center “conducted 852,000 live chats.


USCIS Contact Center

Last but not least, USCIS petitioners or applicants can call the USCIS contact center to bring inquiries. From my personal experience though, it was very difficult to get answers via phone calls because USCIS has an interactive voice response (IVR) system that is designed to answer general questions.

Just like Emma, USCIS virtual assistant, the IVR system will connect you to real representatives if it seems necessary. That being said, to me, it was tougher to get through compared to Emma. Another downside of calling the USCIS Contact Center is that you cannot save the communication. When you are seeking answers, you would like to have evidence so you can ensure the matter you brought up is taken care of.

From that vantage point, you can screenshot the chat if you are communicating with Emma or real USCIS representatives. However, if you are calling them, you cannot obtain any written statement or screenshots.

USCIS stated that “in the fiscal year 2021, the USCIS Contact Center received 14.6 million calls” which is a large volume of the calls. Depending on the call volume, you may have to experience a longer waiting time or they might ask you to leave the phone number and they will call you back. If you were told to leave the phone number so USCIS can call you back, check out their call back policies:

If the IVR determines you need to speak with a live representative, it may connect you immediately or you may have to wait, depending on the time of day, the call volume, and the availability of USCIS representatives.
…If USCIS schedules a callback, it will text and/or email you one to two days before the call. Check your email and text messages for these notices as it will help you prepare for your callback. Once the text and/or email is received, we suggest adding this number to your cell phone so you recognize the incoming call is from USCIS. If you don’t pick up the first call, USCIS will call one more time. Please note that USCIS connects with 88%-90% of people during the first callback.

How to best communicate with USCIS right now

This blog post had a look at the 3 best ways to reach USCIS. If you are experiencing a hard time being connected to USCIS, check out the OPT forum. All other OPT and STEM OPT case studies can be found on the OPT and STEM OPT pages respectively. Don’t be ignorant and be savvy just like you are reading this post. It is your education, your right to know!

Be Savvies

Related Posts

J-1 exchange students? Apply for Academic Training for internships
J-1 签证

作为 J-1 交换生赴美实习?学术培训了解一下

交换生是指短期来美国学习和体验不同文化的学生。与获得学位(例如学士学位、硕士学位或博士学位)的攻读学位的学生不同,交换生不会从美国院校获得学位,而是从其本国大学获得学位。在签证方面,攻读学位的学生通常获得F-1学生签证,而非攻读学位(交换)的学生则获得J-1学生签证。但交换生有可能获得 F-1 签证。我为什么要谈论签证?这是因为 F-1 和 J-1 签证持有者都必须知道,根据移民法规,未经授权,他们不得在校外工作。因此,为了在校外公司实习,您应该根据您的签证类型申请不同的就业授权计划。例如,F-1学生应申请并获得批准用于在校期间实习的CPT和毕业后在校外工作的Post-completion OPT。对于 J-1 学生,有一个名为学术培训的项目,通过学术培训项目,交换生可以在校外工作。然而,学术培训规则不如 F-1 学生项目明确,因此大多数 J-1 交换生不会利用该项目。因此,如果您想充分利用在美国的留学经历,请仔细阅读本文,看看您是否符合资格。通过阅读本文,您将能够了解以下内容: (1) Purpose. The primary purpose of academic training is to permit a student, other than a student intern described in paragraph (i) of this section, to participate in an academic training program during his or her studies, without

Read More »
Academic disqualification
F-1 签证

取消学术资格、停学、留校察看和签证

大多数美国学院和大学都有适用于包括国际学生在内的所有学生的学术要求。例如,如果学生 GPA 成绩低于 2.0(满分 4.0),则根据下一学期的机构政策,他或她可能会被留校察看 (AP)。 AP 学生会被分配 AP 顾问,帮助他们提高 GPA。 如果学生的 GPA 没有提高或者学生没有成功完成 AP 流程,学生可能会被取消学业资格或收到学业停课通知。除非学生是故意不学习,否则没有学生愿意收到取消学业资格、停学、留校察看的通知,因为这意味着低 GPA 和没有奖学金等。 然而,对于国际学生来说,处于学术留校察看或被取消学术资格尤其是一件大事,因为他们的非移民身份(学生签证)可能会受到影响。由于国际学生留在美国的目的是学习,因此当他们因学术取消资格/停学和留校察看而无法注册课程时,他们可能不得不离开美国。 因此,这篇文章将探讨学术取消资格、停学和留校察看对国际学生签证状态的影响。经常被问到的问题,例如“美国领事官员会知道我被取消资格吗?”、“我应该怎么做才能取消留学查看的处分?” “我需要离开美国吗?”或“我怎样才能留在美国?”也将被讨论。 目录 留校察看 正如我上面简要提到的,通常会对学生进行学术留校察看,以避免学生离被取消学术资格而被停学更近了。从这个意义上说,大多数学生将能够在即将到来的入学中继续全日制入学。只要国际学生能够注册下一学期的全日制课程,此时学生签证或 SEVIS 记录(I-20 表)就不会受到影响。 话虽这么说,AP 学生应该尽力在下学期摆脱 AP 身份,以免被学校停学或失去身份。同样,处于 AP 状态的学生可能需要更多时间来满足毕业要求,这可能导致无法在 I-20 表格上注明的课程结束日期按时毕业。 在这种情况下,学生没有资格申请延期,因此他们必须返回自己的祖国完成课程。要了解有关“身份失效”的结果的更多信息,请单击以下相关文章: 相关文章:国际学生注意不要“身份失效” 如果你的学校阻止 AP 学生注册全日制课程,你应该与你所在大学的 DSO 沟通,看看你应该做什么,因为从技术上讲,除非你有资格获得减少课程量,否则你将失去身份。 我们鼓励想了解一些学习和写作技巧的国际学生查看以下文章: 相关文章1:全A学习指南:国际学生赴美留学相关文章2:抄袭?所有国际学生都应该知道的写作服务 停学/取消学术资格 现在让我们看一下与学业暂停或取消资格相关的移民法规。 一些院校为学术不合格并因此收到停课通知的学生提供上诉的机会。因此,如果您在学术上被取消资格,在做出最终决定之前,请务必检查您的学院或大学是否允许不合格的学生提出上诉。 如果您的学院或大学不为不合格的学生提供上诉机会,或者您的上诉被拒绝,那么您的签证身份就失效了,因为您不再是 I-20 签发的学院/大学的学生。

Read More »
F-1 to O-1 visa pathway after OPT/STEM OPT
F-1 비자의 모든 것

F-1 유학생 비자에서 OPT/STEM OPT, O-1 비자 까지 잘 이어지려면?

O-1 비자는 다음 분야에서 “뛰어난 능력 extraordinary ability“을 보유한 (미국 입장)외국인이 미국에 체류하며 최대 3년까지 근무할 수 있도록 허용하며, 연장 횟수에 제한 없이 1년 단위로 연장이 가능합니다. 이 뿐 아니라, O-1B 비자는 예술가도 미국에 체류하며 근무할 수 있도록 허가해 주는 비자로, 예술 분야의 예시는 다음과 같습니다: 개인이 “뛰어난 능력 extraordinary

Read More »