March 25, 2007

Kuwait City, Kuwait

MEMORANDUM 

To:                     All American Wardens

From:                 Consular Section

Subject:             Warden Notice 2007 – 4 

Please circulate the following message without additions or omissions immediately to all American citizens within your area of responsibility:

Begin Text:

TWO MESSAGES ARE INCLUDED IN THIS NOTICE:

1.   U.S. CONSULAR OFFICES ABROAD RESUME ACCEPTING I-130 IMMIGRANT VISA PETITIONS

2.  IMPROVEMENTS IN YOUR CONSULAR SECTION 

1.  As of January 22, 2007, consular offices abroad were instructed to cease accepting certain immigrant visa petitions because consular officers lacked the means to perform the required criminal background checks on American citizen petitioners, as required by the Adam Walsh Act. 

Subsequently, the Department of State and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) worked to develop a mechanism whereby USCIS will perform these required “Adam Walsh Act” checks for any petitions accepted abroad by consular officers.

Effective immediately, consular posts abroad will accept petitions for immediate relative immigrant classification from American citizens who are resident in their consular districts, including members of the armed forces, as well as true emergency cases, such as life and death or health and safety, and others determined to be in the national interest.

Examples of family emergency include minor children who would be unexpectedly left without a caretaker.  Examples of national interest include facilitating the travel of United States military and other USG direct hire employees assigned overseas who are pending transfer on orders and need to petition for immigrant classification of their spouse and minor children at posts overseas.

To demonstrate residency in a consular district, American Citizen petitioners must be able to show that they have permission to reside in the consular district and that they have been doing so continuously for at least six months before filing the petition.  Individuals who are in the country on a temporary status, such as student or tourist, would not be considered to meet the residency standard.

All lawful permanent residents, and American Citizens resident in the United States or with a permanent address in the United States, must file I-130 petitions at the USCIS Service Center having jurisdiction over their place of residence (as indicated on the USCIS website:  http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/i-130.pdf). 

Arabic summary of the first three paragraphs of the above message:

21 مارس 2007

وزارة الخارجية الأمريكية
مكتب الناطق الرسمي

مذكرة
المكاتب القنصلية Ù?ÙŠ الخارج تستأنÙ? قبول
التماسات تأشيرة الهجرة I-130

ابتداءً من 22 يناير 2007 تلقت المكاتب القنصلية Ù?ÙŠ الخارج تعليمات بالتوقÙ? عن استقبال بعض التماسات تأشيرة الهجرة لاÙ?تقار هذه المكاتب لوسائل إجراءات التدقيق المتعلقة بالخلÙ?ية الجنائية لأصحاب الالتماسات من المواطنين الأمريكيين وذلك بناء على قانون آدم ويلش ØŒ وتبعاً لذلك قامت وزارة الخارجية مع إدارة خدمات الجنسية الأمريكية والهجرة ( USCIS ) بتطوير آلية تمكن الـ USCIS   Ù…Ù† القيام بالإجراءات المنصوص عليها من خلال " قانون آدم ويلش " لأي التماس يتم المواÙ?قة عليه من قبل المسئولين القنصليين Ù?ÙŠ الخارج.

الآن  Ù?صاعداً ستبدأ المكاتب القنصلية باستقبال التماسات تأشيرة الهجرة للأقارب المقدمة من المواطنين الأمريكيين الذين يقيمون قي منطقتهم والتي تشمل Ø£Ù?راد القوات العسكرية ØŒ الحالات الطارئة والمتعلقة بالموت ØŒ الحياة ØŒ الصحة ØŒ الأمن  أو أية حالات أخرى يمكن اعتبارها متعلقة بالمصلحة الوطنية ØŒ وتشمل الحالات الأسرية الطارئة ما يتعلق بالأطÙ?ال القصر ممن تركوا بدون رعاية ØŒ أما الأمثلة المتعلقة بالمصلحة الوطنية Ù?إنها تشمل تسهيل انتقال القوات العسكرية الأمريكية أو الموظÙ?ين المعينين من قبل الحكومة الأمريكية Ù?ÙŠ الخارج والذين هم بحاجة لتقديم التماسات الهجرة المتعلقة بأزواجهم / زوجاتهم وأطÙ?الهم القصر.

لإثبات الإقامة ضمن نطاق القنصليات Ù?ÙŠ الخارج يتعين على المواطن الأمريكي تقديم ما يثبت استمرارية إقامته Ù?ÙŠ هذه المنطقة بالإضاÙ?Ø© إلى إقامته Ù?ÙŠ ذات المنطقة لمدة لا تقل عن ستة أشهر من تاريخ تقديم الالتماس أما الأÙ?راد الذين يزورون المنطقة بصÙ?Ø© مؤقتة بغرض الدراسة أو السياحة Ù?لا تنطبق عليهم هذه الضوابط.
يتعين على جميع المقيمين بصورة شرعية Ù?ÙŠ الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية والمواطنين الأمريكيين الذين يقيمون Ù?يها أو ممن لديهم عنوان دائم هناك تقديم التماساتهم ( I-130  ) إلى مكاتب USCIS  Ø§Ù„تابعين لها حسب ما هو موضح Ù?ÙŠ الموقع الإلكتروني التالي : http://www.uscis.gov/files/form-i-130

 

End Text. 

To listen to a recording of this warden notice in English please call 259-1048, for Arabic please call 259-1049. 

2.  The Consular Section of the Embassy of the United States of America is pleased to announce that effective Sunday, April 1, 2007, our staff will be available to answer your telephone inquiries related to American citizen, immigrant and nonimmigrant Visa Services daily (Saturdays - Wednesdays) between the hours of 2:00pm and 4:00pm.  Of course, Embassy staff members will remain available for emergency calls 24 hours a day, 365 days per year through our duty officer.  The Embassy's telephone number is +965 259-1001.  

The Embassy's telephone answering network will also be improved to provide recorded information to answer the most frequently asked consular questions including our hours of operations, the Embassy's location and instructions for applying for our services.  We remind all visitors that most information can be found online at http://kuwait.usembassy.gov.

This message may be accessed on the Embassy website, http://kuwait.usembassy.gov 

American citizens in Kuwait who would like to receive future Warden Messages from the Embassy directly by e-mail may sign up for this service by sending an e-mail to the following address: join-wardenmessagekuwait@mh.databack.com 

American citizens resident and visiting in Kuwait who are not registered with the Embassy, or whose registration information has changed, are urged to register as soon as possible.  They may now do so on-line at the Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs’ website at https://travelregistration.state.gov/ibrs/home.asp 

American citizens also may register in person by coming with their passport to the American Citizen Services Unit, Consular Section, from 9 AM to 11 AM and from 1 PM to 3 PM on Saturdays, Sundays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays; on Mondays from 1 PM to 3 PM; and on the first Sunday of each month from 5 PM to 7 PM.