United States Citizenship And Immigration Services

In the United States there is one organization that handles immigration services and is called the United States Citizenship and immigration Services.

United States Citizenship and Immigration Services is a bureau in the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS). It performs many of the functions previously carried out by the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service, which was a subsidiary of the United States Department of Justice. The stated priorities of the USCIS are to promote national security and to provide immigration services to those that require it and also to eliminate immigration case backlogs, and improve customer services.

USCIS focuses on two solution on the immigrant's path towards integration: when they first become permanent residents and when they are ready to begin the formal naturalization process. According to immigration services a lawful permanent resident is eligible to become a citizen after holding the Permanent Resident Card for at least five continuous years. If, however, the lawful permanent resident marries a U.S. citizen, eligibility for U.S. citizenship is shortened to three years so long as the resident has been living with the partner constantly for at three years and the spouse has been a citizen of the United States for at three years.

This organization focused on providing immigration services was widely seen as ineffective, particularly after scandals that arose after September 11, 2001,and on November 25, 2002 a law was passed that transferred the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) functions to the Department of Homeland Security.

The enforcement functions were placed within the Directorate of Border and Transportation Security and the immigration services functions were placed into the separate USCIS. On March 1, 2003, the INS ceased to exist and services provided by that organization transitioned into USCIS (immigration services were united with enforcement functions).