Liaison Meeting with USCIS Los Angeles District Director

LOS ANGELES - Aug. 26, 2013 - PRLog -- 1. There is a new pilot program in effect, helping with providing language support. It is either a person or a kiosk that now offers mandarin as well as Fujian (I believe this was the other dialect mentioned)

2. InfoPass Appointments- They are now extending appts to the early afternoon (latest is now 1pm instead of 11:30am) and currently training new staff to help with the demand.

3. New ISO posts- They now have an ISO set up outside 300 N. Los Angeles at 6:30am to help direct people to where they need to be. They will help organize the first appts at 7:15am, so that those persons can be placed to the front of the line and help the overall flow of a days worth of appointments and walk ups. The woman in charge (didn't catch her name or title) mentioned that one day she was able to get 55 people serviced in 15 minutes, all thanks to proper line placement and organization.

4. ASC Appts- Now attorneys are able to make up to 5 appointments for clients who don't already have an appointment if they have a hearing schedule within the next 60 days. We may send a runner to make these appointments.

5. New Phone System at 300 N. Los Angeles Office (Implemented August 16, 2013) -The 1800 # we can call is set up with different tiers (1 and 2 were discussed). We should now just go through Tier 1 as we will be quickly serviced because we are calling as attorney's or attorney reps. Something called an S.R.M.T. (See explanation of SRMT below) is available after 2 phone inquiries on a given case ( I am not familiar with this term).

6. Wrong expiration times were sent out- I guess instead of 2 years, people were given 10 years as an expiration date. Did not catch exactly what they were talking about but if we have a client who is asked about coming into USCIS to have their "card" amended, from 10 to 2 years, we should advise this is legitimate and should be done.

7. Closing thoughts- Newer DD, Phyllis Coven, is very energetic and is hoping to make USCIS "The Disneyland for Immigration" and hates that it is a headache for those who need it's services.

-There was also a discussion about how the DD was getting more complaints from officers about attorney conduct and inappropriate behavior. The DD was told by several members in attendance that certain officers are just as bad if not worse, not following regulations or breaking regulations all together.

-The DD said she is working on making sure officers are following protocol and that us attorney's need to make sure we are being professional and rule abiding ourselves.

Other than that, like I said, there were 10 specific questions that were answered, most of which didn't have anything of substance to report.

The last bit of helpful information was that it came up that we should start filing a G-28 for every form we file (i.e. 4 G-28's for an AOS packet of I130, I485, I765, I131) so that if we call to inquire on a particular form, there is an accompanying G28 to allow the person on the phone to discuss the issue(s).

---------------------

A S.M.R.T. is a one page notice that you receive when doing an inquiry through the 800 number. It's your proof that an inquiry was made. Its short for strategic management research tool. For example, say you call to reschedule an adjustment interview. A SMRT will be sent to the office. Then USCIS denies because your client didn't show. When filing the mtr you have proof that you notified USCIS of the request to reschedule.