The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (U.S. CIS) issued a press release informing that effective April 2, 2007, all Forms I-129, Petitions for Nonimmigrant Workers and I-539, Applications to Change/Extend Nonimmigrant Status, must be filed directly with either the Vermont Service Center (VSC) or the California Service Center (CSC). Applicants must file directly with the U.S. CIS Service Center that has jurisdiction over their place of temporary employment or place of residence. 

This is an important announcement considering that the first available date of filing any and all new H-1B visas to be counted towards the cap is April 2, 2007.

The U.S. CIS is “streamlining” the processing and adjudication of cases and now moving away from the prior centralization of filings.

U.S. CIS clarified that there is no need to change letterhead or supporting documents of documents already prepared, but packages but be sent to either:

U.S. Department of Homeland Security
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
Vermont Service Center
75 Lower Welden St.
Saint Albans, Vermont 05479

Or:

U.S. Department of Homeland Security
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
California Service Center
24000 Avila RoadLaguna Niguel, CA  92677

All I-907, Requests for Premium Processing in connection with I-129 Applications should be forwarded directly to the U.S. CIS Service Center having jurisdiction over the I-129 Application or directed to the U.S. CIS Service Center that issued the official Receipt Notice.

USCIS will also publish charts delineating the proper filing locations on its website prior to April 2, 2007.  The U.S. CIS website is: www.uscis.gov