America is a nation of immigrants. That diversity is the backbone of our arts, industry, and culture. American citizenship speaks to our character as a welcoming country that bestows upon us all of the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) oversees lawful immigration to the United States.  USCIS secures America’s promise as a nation of immigrants by providing accurate and useful information to our customers, granting immigration and citizenship benefits, promoting an awareness and understanding of citizenship, and ensuring the integrity of our immigration system.

Strengthening the Immigration System

USCIS consists of 18,000 employees and contractors from 250 offices across the world who oversee lawful immigration to the United States. Our number one goal is strengthening the security and integrity of the immigration system through efficient and consistent adjudications of benefits, fraud detection, and enhanced customer service. USCIS promotes flexible and sound immigration policies and programs as well as immigrant participation in American civic culture.

Exercising a Holistic Approach

In this era of increased global threats and national security challenges, we will remain mindful of our obligation to provide immigration service in a manner that strengthens and fortifies the nation. We carefully administer every aspect of our immigration mission so that new immigrants and citizens can hold in high regard the privileges and advantages of lawful presence in the United States.

On an average day we:

• Welcome 3,000 new citizens.
• Conduct 135,000 national security background checks.
• Complete 30,000 applications for various immigration benefits.
• Help American parents adopt 125 foreign-born orphans.
• Answer 41,000 phone calls to our toll-free customer service line, and serve 12,000 customers at our field offices.
• Ensure the employment eligibility of more than 80,000 new hires in the United States.
• Fingerprint and photograph 11,000 applicants at our 129 Application Support Centers.
• Grant permanent residence to 3,400 people and issue 7,300 Permanent Resident Cards.
• Process 200 refugee applications around the world, and grant asylum to 40 people already in the United States.

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