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Extension of Temporary Protected Status for Haiti

Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano has extended Haiti’s Temporary Protected Status (TPS). Next week, the Department of Homeland Security will publish a notice in the Federal Register announcing this decision.

The Federal Register notice will provide additional guidance on:

Who is eligible for TPS;
How to re-register if you have TPS;
When to begin filing TPS applications;
How to request an Employment Authorization Document (EAD);
Six-month automatic extension of current EADs;
TPS fees and fee waiver procedures; and
Other TPS-related information.

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USCIS and Los Angeles Expand Immigrant Integration Efforts to City’s 73 Public Libraries with “Citizenship Corners”

LOS ANGELES—U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Alejandro Mayorkas and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced today a new initiative to provide the Los Angeles Public Library’s 73 locations with citizenship resources and training for library staff. This initiative further expands upon the agency and city’s partnership announced in January 2010to strengthen and enhance local immigrant integration efforts.

“Today we take a further step to expand citizenship resources for immigrants in Los Angeles by providing information about the naturalization process in libraries,” said Mayorkas. “We are proud to yet again partner with Mayor Villaraigosa and the City of Los Angeles on this important initiative and to support immigrants on their journey to become American citizens.”

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USCIS Announces FY 2012 Grant Recipients On Constitution Day and Citizenship Day

WASHINGTON—As part of its celebration of Constitution Day and Citizenship Day, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today announced the award of approximately $5 million in grants designed to promote immigrant civic integration and prepare permanent residents for citizenship. Thirty-one immigrant-serving organizations from 21 states and the District of Columbia will receive federal funding to support citizenship preparation services for permanent residents through September 2014.

Since the program began in October 2009, USCIS’s Citizenship and Integration Grant Program has helped more than 38,000 permanent residents in 30 states and the District of Columbia prepare for citizenship. Through Sept. 30, 2014, USCIS anticipates that an additional 26,000 permanent residents will receive citizenship preparation services as a result of the grants.

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2012 Citizenship Day Naturalization Ceremonies

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Maintenance Outages affecting e-filing and ELIS scheduled for September 14 to 16

USCIS Electronic Immigration System (USCIS ELIS) will undergo scheduled maintenance from Sept. 14 at 8 pm to Sept. 16 at 8:30 pm EDT and will not be available during this time.

Payment processing for e-Filing will be unavailable from 6 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 15, 2012, to midnight on Sunday, Sept.16, 2012, because of Pay.gov maintenance. Customers will be able to access the system but not process payments for forms during this time.

We regret any inconvenience and recommend that customers plan accordingly.