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More than 600,000 new citizens will receive the enhanced certificate over the next year Introduction U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today announced it has begun issuing a redesigned, more secure Certificate of Naturalization (Form N-550) as part of its ongoing efforts to enhance the integrity of the immigration system. The agency anticipates that over 600,000 new citizens will receive the enhanced certificate over the next year. Questions and Answers Q1. What is a Certificate of Naturalization (Form N-550)? A1 . The Certificate of Naturalization serves as evidence of your citizenship. You receive it after taking the Oath of Allegiance to the United States. Citizenship qualifies you to vote and travel with a U.S. passport, among other rights. In many instances, a Certificate of Naturalization is accepted as a valid form of identification. Q2. Why did USCIS redesign the naturalization certificate? A2. The previous Certificates of Naturalization featured har...

VISA BULLETIN NOVEMBER 2010 FAMILY-SPONSORED PREFERENCES Family All Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed CHINA-mainland born INDIA MEXICO PHILIPPINES 1st 15FEB06 15FEB06 15FEB06 22DEC92 01APR97 2A 01JUN10 01JUN10 01JUN10 01MAR10 01JUN10 2B ...

Highlights of the 2010 Final Fee Rule The final fee rule will increase the average application and petition fees by approximately 10 percent. In recognition of the unique importance of naturalization, the final fee rule contains no increase in the naturalization application fee. The final fee rule establishes three new fees for: Regional center designation under the Immigrant Investor Pilot Program (EB-5); Individuals seeking civil surgeon designation (with an exemption for certain physicians who examine service members, veterans, and their families at U.S. government facilities); and Recovery of the USCIS cost of processing immigrant visas granted by the Department of State. The final fee rule adjusts fees for the premium processing service. This adjustment will ensure that USCIS can continue to modernize as an efficient and effective organization. The final fee rule reduces fees for six individual applications and petitions: Petition for Alien Fiancé (Form I-129F); Applicat...

A May 2008 memo by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) entitled Social Networking Sites and Their Importance to FDNS [Office of Fraud Detection and National Security] states : “Narcissistic tendencies in many people fuels a need to have a large group of “friends” link to their pages and many of these people accept cyber-friends that they don’t even know. This provides an excellent vantage point for FDNS to observe the daily life of beneficiaries and petitioners who are suspected of fraudulent activities. This social networking gives FDNS an opportunity to reveal fraud by browsing these sites to see if petitioners and beneficiaries are in a valid relationship or are attempting to deceive [United States Citizen and Immigration Services] about their relationship. Once a user posts online, they create a public record and timeline of their activities. In essence, using MySpace and other like sites is akin to doing an unannounced cyber “site-visit” on a [sic] petitioners a...