U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will permanently close its field office in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam on March 31, 2011, but services previously performed by the U.S. Consulate General will not be affected, the consulate announced Monday.
The statement said the U.S. Consulate General would continue, as before, to provide American Citizen Services and Visa Services, including tourist, student, business, and immigrant visas.
The U.S. Consulate General, where authorized, will assume responsibility for processing certain cases formerly processed by the USCIS office in HCMC.
As of March 25, 2011, the U.S. Consulate General will begin to accept I-130 petitions for an immediate relative (spouse, child) from U.S. citizens who have lived uninterrupted and continuously for more than six months in Vietnam and have a valid temporary residency and/or work visa.
Also as of that day, the consulate will begin to accept I-360 petitions from widows of U.S. citizens who do not already have an approved I-130 petition; process requests for relinquishment or abandonment of legal permanent residence status; contact follow-to-join relatives of petitioners in the United States who filed an I-730 petition for them in the U.S., AND for whom that petition has already been approved by USCIS in the U.S., AND whose approved petition has been
forwarded to the U.S. Consulate General by the National Visa Center for interview and processing by the U.S. Consulate General.
Contact legal permanent residents who already applied in the U.S. for a reentry permit, and who indicated on their application (I-131) that that reentry permit be sent to the U.S. Consulate General in order for them to pick it up, the consulate said.
For questions regarding other USCIS services and programs, visit www.uscis.gov. Individuals may also contact the USCIS Bangkok Field Office by telephone, 00-662-205-5352 (within Vietnam) or 011-622-205-5352 (from the United States); or email bkkcis.inquiries@dhs.gov.
