[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 34 (Friday, February 20, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Page 8689]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-4345]


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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Immigration and Naturalization Service
[INS No. 1885-97]


Direct Mail Program for the San Francisco District Office and the 
Fresno, Oakland, Sacramento and San Jose Suboffices; Form N-400

AGENCY: Immigration and Naturalization Service, Justice.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces that the Immigration and Naturalization 
Service (INS or Service) is expanding its Direct Mail Program to 
include the San Francisco District Office and the Fresno, Oakland, 
Sacramento and San Jose Suboffices on the current list of direct mail 
sites for filing Form N-400, Application for Naturalization. Applicants 
residing within these districts and suboffices will mail their Form N-
400 directly to the designated INS service center for processing. This 
expansion is intended to improve INS service to the pubic by reducing 
processing times for Form N-400, limiting in-person visits to local 
offices, and improving the quality of case status information provided 
to the public.

DATES: This notice is effective February 20, 1998.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Susan Arroyo, Adjudications Officer, Immigration and Naturalization 
Service, Office of Naturalization Operations, 801 I Street, NW., Room 
935E, Washington, DC 20536, telephone, (202) 514-8247.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the Direct Mail Program, certain 
applicants and petitioners for immigration benefits mail their 
applications and petitions directly to an INS service center for 
processing instead of submitting them to a local INS office. The 
purposes and strategy of the Direct Mail Program have been discussed in 
detail in previous rulemaking and notices (see, e.g., 50 FR 33903 and 
59 FR 33985).
    The Service is continuing expansion of the Direct Mail Program as 
applied to Form N-400 by adding the San Francisco District Office and 
the Fresno, Oakland, Sacramento, and San Jose Suboffices as Direct Mail 
sites.

Where To File

    Effective February 20, 1998, applicants for naturalization residing 
within the jurisdiction of the San Francisco District Office and the 
Fresno, Oakland, Sacramento, and San Jose Suboffices must mail the Form 
N-400, Application for Naturalization, directly to the California 
Service Center at the following address: USINS California Service 
Center, Attention: N-400 Unit, P.O. Box 10400, Laguna Nigel, California 
92607-0400.

Transition

    During the first 60 days following the effective date of this 
notice, the San Francisco District Office and the Fresno, Oakland, 
Sacramento, and San Jose Suboffices will forward in a timely fashion to 
the California Service Center any Form N-400, Application for 
Naturalization, which has been inadvertently filed with the respective 
district or suboffice. Applicants will be provided a notice at the time 
of filing at the district or suboffice advising them their application 
is being forwarded to the Service Center for initial processing. The 
applicant will receive written notification from their respective 
district or suboffice of the date, place, and time of their interview 
for naturalization. When applications are forwarded from the district 
or suboffices, they will be receipted and filed when they arrive at the 
Service Center. After the 60-day transition period, applicants 
attempting to file Form N-400, Application for Naturalization, at the 
offices listed above will be directed to mail their application 
directly to the California Service Center for processing.

    Dated: February 13, 1998.
Doris Meissner,
Commissioner, Immigration and Naturalization Service.
[FR Doc. 98-4345 Filed 2-19-98; 8:45 am]
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