Immigration Agency Launches New Web Site

By SUZANNE GAMBOA, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Obama administration launched a new Web site on Tuesday that officials hope will make citizenship and other immigration services more accessible.

The new Citizenship and Immigration Services Web site was unveiled Tuesday at an event with Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, as well as White House and Homeland Security staff.

Napolitano said USCIS’ Web site gets 230,000 visits a day, therefore it’s important that it be easy to use and provides “the kind of information that people seek.”

The site was revised in 90 days using in-house resources, officials said. CIS officials could not immediately provide a total cost for the revisions. Parts of the service, including its Spanish-language sections, were still under construction.

Citizenship and Immigration Services is responsible for processing millions of applications for citizenship, immigration to the U.S. and legal residency as well as claims for asylum and refugee status.

One of the highlights of the new site is a tool allowing users to get e-mail updates or text alerts about the status of their cases, as well as to check them online with their case number.

Alejandro Mayorkas, the Citizenship and Immigration Services director, planned to travel to Los Angeles, as well as New Mexico and Nevada this week to “capture the issues of importance” on making his agency more responsive to the public.

Last week, Mayorkas announced the creation of an office to focus on gathering feedback from the community.

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On the Net: Citizenship and Immigration Services: http://www.uscis.gov

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)