Integrity Legal

For those seeking to submit a visa application the first thing to think about is which office of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) will take jurisdiction over adjudicating the petition. In instances involving an overseas filing of an Immigrant petition (sometimes known as Direct Consular Filing), this information is not useful, but for those living in the United States and filing non-immigrant spouse or fiance visa petitions, the following information may be helpful.

The K-1 visa application (the I-129f) should be filed with the office having jurisdiction over the petitioner’s home state.  There are currently two USCIS service centers adjudicating I-129f petitions (the K-3 visa application requires a supplemental I-129f petition after submission of an initial I-130 petition).

USICS Service Center: California

The California Service Center currently adjudicates petitions from the following US states and territories:

Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin, or Wyoming. (As with all information concerning USCIS jurisdictional matters, the above list is subject to change.)

USICS Service Center: Vermont

The Vermont Service Center currently adjudicates petitions from the following US states and territories:

Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, U.S. Virgin Islands, West Virginia and the District of Columbia. (As with all information concerning USCIS jurisdictional matters, the above list is subject to change.)

(Some people confuse the Vermont Service Center with the National Visa Center in New Hampshire. The National Visa Center is not an organ of USCIS, but is a visa application processing center under the administrative jurisdiction of the United States Department of State.)

For those American Citizens who are resident in the Kingdom of Thailand, it may be possible to file an Immigrant Visa application with the USCIS office in Bangkok, Thailand. However, unlike a USCIS Service Center, the Bangkok District Office does not generally adjudicate K-1 visa applications. Further, the USCIS Service Centers in California and Vermont are not the correct locations to submit Immigrant Visa (I-130) applications for spouses of United States Citizens who are resident in the United States. Therefore, one should do careful research before submitting any visa application in order to be sure that an application will not be rejected based upon lack of proper jurisdiction.

(Do not use this information as a substitute for competent legal advice. No attorney-client relationship should be inferred to have formed between author and reader.)

Tags: American Visa Thailand, California Service Center, I-130, K-1 Visa Thailand, K-3 Visa Thailand, K1 Visa Thailand, United States Citizenship and Immigration Service, US Visa Thailand, USCIS, Vermont Service Center
Posted in Fiance Visa Thailand, K-3 Visa Thailand, K1 Visa Thailand, US Visa and Immigration, US Visa Thailand | 24 Comments »