[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 126 (Friday, July 1, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-16036]


[[Page Unknown]]

[Federal Register: July 1, 1994]


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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Immigration and Naturalization Service
[INS No. 1660N-94]

 

Pilot Direct Mail Program for the Baltimore District Office

AGENCY: Immigration and Naturalization Service, Justice.

ACTION: Notice of implementation of a Direct Mail Pilot Program for the 
Baltimore District Office.

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SUMMARY: The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS or Service) is 
implementing a pilot Direct Mail Program (the Program) in the Baltimore 
District Office. Under the pilot program, certain designated 
applications and petitions will be directly mailed to the Eastern 
Service Center for processing. This pilot Program is set up as a way of 
testing the Direct Mail process to ensure that it achieves the intended 
results of improving public service and reducing burdensome procedures 
at local field offices.

EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 1994.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Pearl Chang, Senior Examiner, Immigration and Naturalization Service, 
Adjudications Division, 425 I Street, NW., Room 3214, Washington, DC 
20536. Telephone: (202) 514-3240.

ADDRESSES: Implementation of this Pilot Program is a critical step 
towards the implementation of Phase III of the Direct Mail Program, 
which is aimed at improving the Service's ability to service its 
customers in an expedient manner. The Service welcomes comments about 
this Pilot Program and will make appropriate changes before adopting it 
nationwide.
    Please submit any written comments you may have concerning the 
pilot program, in triplicate, to the Records Systems Division, 
Director, Policy Directives and Instructions Branch, Immigration and 
Naturalization Service, 425 I Street, NW., Room 5307. Washington, DC 
20536. To ensure proper handling, please reference INS No. 1660N-94 on 
your correspondence.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    The Immigration and Naturalization Service is expanding its Direct 
Mail Program to allow more applications and petitions to be filed 
directly with an INS Service Center. The Service is soliciting comments 
about the implementation of Direct Mail Phase III through the 
publication of an interim rule, which is published elsewhere in this 
issue of Federal Register. Concurrent with the publication of that 
interim rule, the Service is publishing this notice to announce the 
implementation of the Direct Mail Pilot Program in the Baltimore 
District July 1, 1994, and to solicit public comments.
    This notice is to pilot this conversion on a limited scale in the 
Baltimore District Office. Since this is a pilot program, not all the 
procedural and filing changes discussed in the interim rule will be 
required at this time. In addition, due to the current resource 
limitations, the Service is unable to convert all Baltimore filings to 
Direct Mail.

Conversion to Direct Mail in the Baltimore District

Filing With the Eastern Service Center

    As of July 1, 1994, all applications and petitions except those 
listed below that would normally be filed with the Baltimore District 
Office will instead be mailed to the following address: USINS Eastern 
Service Center, 75 Lower Welden Street, St. Albans, VT 05479-0001.

Filing With the Baltimore District Office

    The following applications and petitions will continue to be filed 
with the Baltimore District Office.
    a. Form I-90, Application to Replace an Alien Registration Card, 
which applicants will continue to file in person at the Baltimore 
office for pre-screening. Thereafter, the local office will forward the 
applications on a nightly basis to the Eastern Service Center for 
receipting and processing.
    b. Form I-600, Petition to Classify Orphan as an Immediate 
Relative.
    c. Form I-600A, Application for Advance Processing of an Orphan 
Petition.
    d. Form I-765, Application for an Employment Authorization Document 
(EAD), where the basis of eligibility is either:
    1. That the person is in proceedings before an immigration judge; 
or
    2. That the person is an applicant for adjustment of status under 
section 245 of the Act and that the application was filed, or is 
already pending, at the Baltimore District Office.
    These EAD applications will be pre-screened at the Baltimore 
District Office to verify the pending proceeding upon which eligibility 
is based and to verify identity, and then forwarded on a nightly basis 
to the Eastern Service Center for receipting and processing. All other 
EAD applications previously filed at the Baltimore Office should be 
mailed to the Eastern Service Center. In addition to the fee and the 
documentation currently required, each EAD application mailed to the 
Eastern Service Center must include:
    1. two (2) ADIT color photographs meeting the specifications in the 
instruction to the application, and
    2. a completed signature card (distributed with applications and 
available at the Baltimore District Office).
    e. Applications for a waiver of grounds of excludability discovered 
during an interview conducted in the Baltimore District Office in 
connection with another pending application or filed at time of 
application for admission.
    f. Form N-400, Application for Naturalization. (The Service plans 
to convert this application to Direct Mail as resources become 
available at the Eastern Service Center.)

Transition

    During the first thirty days following the publication of this 
notice, the Baltimore District Office will forward to the Eastern 
Service Center applications which are designed for Direct Mail and are 
inadvertently filed with the Baltimore District Office. When the 
applications forwarded from the Baltimore District Office arrive at the 
Eastern Service Center, they will be receipted and filed there.

    Dated June 24, 1994.
Doris Meissner,
Commissioner, Immigration and Naturalization Service.
[FR Doc. 94-16036 Filed 6-30-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4410-10-M