USLawChina recently learned that the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will complete a comprehensive redesign of its website on September 22, 2009. This will facilitate easier browsing of immigration information for applicants and allow them to check the latest status of their case processing online at any time.
President Obama announced on June 25, 2009, that the USCIS would complete a full redesign of its website within the next 90 days. The Executive Office of the President will work closely with the USCIS, providing technical support to jointly fulfill the President's directive. The current USCIS website contains approximately 2,500 pages and over 30,000 electronic documents (including attachments). The website receives approximately 230,000 visits per day and 6,000,000 per month, with total page views reaching as high as 25 million per month.
The new USCIS website will feature a customer-centric homepage, providing applicants with tiered immigration service information. Additionally, the website will offer services in different languages based on applicants from various countries, improve the operability of service tools, simplify the navigation system, and enhance search capabilities.
Specifically, the redesigned website will feature the following:
1. A customer-centric homepage, making it easier for visitors to query immigration information through the value-added customer service section;
2. The ability to check the status of USCIS cases via SMS or telephone, whereas previously this was only possible online;
3. For the first time, customers will be able to query immigration application data in the information section, such as receipt status, completion status, and the number of pending applications; customers will also be able to download this data; 4. The new website search engine has improved timeliness and functionality.
Existing website services will also see the following improvements:
1. Reorganization of documents to improve web search efficiency;
2. Conversion of certain web content to make it more accessible and easy to understand;
3. Optimization of the case status inquiry function, with case progress information becoming more specific and detailed.
The changes brought about by this redesign of the USCIS website are all intended to provide more convenient services to readers, making it easier to use and allowing more immigrants to receive assistance from the new website.