In its annual report to Congress, the CIS Ombudsman (CIS OMB) issued a critical report on the way the USCIS has been handling and processing requests for humanitarian revalidation. They have also singled out the California Service Center’s Humanitarian Revalidation Unit for “special mention.” (Created in 2002 by Congress, the Office of the Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman (CIS OMB) is dedicated to improving the quality of citizenship and immigration services delivered to the public by making recommendations to improve the administration of immigration benefits by USCIS, and providing individual case assistance.)
According to the CIS OMB’s report, there are “gaps in guidance, lack of uniform procedures, and imprecise evidentiary requirements from USCIS in the handling of humanitarian… reinstatement cases,” which are “inconsistent with the remedial and humanitarian nature of this relief.”
The CIS OMB recognizes that “reinstatement is the only possible relief for surviving beneficiaries” when a petitioner has died, if the beneficiary was not in the US when the petitioner died. (If the beneficiary was in the US when the petitioner died, reinstatement is virtually “automatic.”)
The CIS OMB reminded the USCIS that although there are no strict requirements, family ties in the US are a “major consideration.” Quoting from the Adjudicator’s Field Manual (AFM), the CIS OMB noted that humanitarian reinstatement “may be appropriate when revocation is not inconsistent with the furtherance of justice, especially in light of the goal of family unity that is the underlying premise of our nation’s immigration system.” Unfortunately, the USCIS “lacks a standardized process for receiving and processing humanitarian… reinstatement requests.”
In singling out the California Service Center’s Humanitarian Revalidation Unit, (CSC HR Unit) the CIS OMB notes that “once the initial request for humanitarian reinstatement is denied, the CSC HR Unit will not permit subsequent requests without the filing of a Form I-290B Notice of Appeal or Motion with a fee of $630, submitted within 30 days from CSC’s final decision.” Only the CSC HR Unit has this rule. USCIS Service Center Operations Directorate in Washington DC confirmed that “there is no regulation or USCIS policy to limit the number of reinstatement requests that can be made following the death of the petitioner on an approved I-130.” In other words, the CSC HR Unit has its own rules, which Washington confirmed do not exist nationwide, that a person somehow has only “one chance” to apply for humanitarian reinstatement.
The CIS OMB even cited one egregious (horrible) example of CSC HR Unit’s “adjudication” of a humanitarian revalidation request: An elderly Filipino parent filed a petition, which was approved in 1993. The petitioner died 11 years later, in 2004. The family notified CSC in 2011 that the petitioner had died. Interpreting this “notification” as a request for humanitarian reinstatement, the CSC HR Unit denied the “request,” since there was not enough “evidence” justifying reinstatement. (Remember, all the family was doing was notifying CSC that the petitioner had died. Yet the CSC HR Unit (in its denial mode), treated that innocent notification letter as a full-blown request for humanitarian restatement).
After the denial, the family hired an attorney who pointed out that no humanitarian reinstatement request had been submitted. Undeterred, the CSC HR Unit issued a second denial, because the petitioner had supposedly died “prior to the approval of the petition.” The attorney pointed out the petition was approved in 1993, and the petitioner died in 2004, and asked for reconsideration/reopening, since the petitioner died after the petition was approved. Therefore, the CSC HR Unit’s second denial was in error. Recognizing it had denied the case on an unsupported ground, the CSC HR Unit reopened the case, but then denied it again, concluding the family was undeserving of being reunited.
The CIS OMB concluded that “improvements in the handling of requests for reinstatement for surviving family members are long overdue and merit attention.” I agree.
The CSC HR Unit is a denial mill for humanitarian reinstatement request. (I note that the other departments within the CSC (and the other Service Centers that process HR requests) do exercise discretion in adjudicating petitions and applications. It is just the CSC HR Unit that is in an autopilot “deny” mode when processing HR requests). I am encouraged that the CIS OMB has taken note of CSC HR Unit’s handling of such requests, which are an aberration from all other Service Centers.
There must be some fairness, compassion, and justice in the way the CSC HR Unit treats devastated families who waited years for their visas, only to have the CSC HR Unit callously find ways to deny their request for reinstatement, in direct contravention of national policy!
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