TEMPORARY WORKER visas.
PIMS Processing Update
Important information for prospective employers and visa applicants, when extension of stay, change of status or petition amendment has been requested.
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) of the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department have agreed to a process that will facilitate the entry of nonimmigrant petition-based employment visa petitions (H, L, O, P, Q) into the State Department’s Petition Information Management Service (PIMS) system, where an extension of stay, change of status, or petition amendment is requested. Upon approval of a petition where a change, extension, or amendment is requested and the petitioner provides duplicate original petitions to the USCIS with original signatures on all forms as would otherwise be done for consular notification, the USCIS will send the duplicate copy to the State Department’s Kentucky Consular Center (KCC) for scanning and entry into the PIMS database. Persons are encouraged to identify the duplicate petition with a brightly-colored cover sheet and to mark on it “Please send this copy to KCC upon approval.” Therefore, if there is any chance that the beneficiary will need to obtain a visa at a US embassy or consulate after a change, extension, or petition amendment, it is advisable to file a duplicate petition set with original signatures on the forms.
