# El Salvador - USCIS San Salvador Field Office

## Geographic Jurisdiction

USCIS San Salvador has jurisdiction over U.S. immigration matters in El Salvador.

## Public hours

For public inquiries related to services our office provides (see list of services below), please contact our office by email at ElSalvador.USCIS@uscis.dhs.gov.

Direct all other public inquiries to the USCIS Contact Center. If you are in the United States or a U.S. territory, dial 800-375-5283 (for people who are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability: TTY 800-767-1833) to access automated information through an interactive menu 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you are outside the United States or a U.S. territory, you can call the USCIS Contact Center at 212-620-3418. You can get live help from a USCIS representative Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern except on federal holidays.

## Appointments

You must make an online appointment to visit USCIS San Salvador. USCIS San Salvador does not accept walk-ins.

## Fee Payment Information

For all applications and petitions that you submit to this office, you must pay the fees to the U.S. embassy cashier in the consular section with a credit card or in U.S. dollars. We do not accept personal checks or money orders.

## Office Services

Click on the tabs below for additional information on each service this office provides. Click on the form names within the tabs to see a complete explanation of the fees, required forms and documentation associated with forms that we may accept directly at this office. If there are special instructions for filing at this office, you will see them under “Filing and Other Special Instructions” within each tab.

Form I-730, Refugee/Asylee Relative Petition, Form and Fee Information

**Purpose:**

Individuals admitted to the United States as a refugee or granted status in the United States as an asylee **within the past two years** may file a Form I-730, Refugee/Asylee Relative Petition, for qualifying relatives.

**Filing and Other Special Instructions:**

Refugees or asylees file this petition in the United States for their qualifying relatives. Please see the Form I-730 webpage for filing instructions. If you file a Form I-730 petition with a domestic USCIS office for a beneficiary who resides in El Salvador, we will transfer the petition to the San Salvador Field Office for further processing. We will contact the petitioning relative and any representative of record to initiate processing and gather additional information and documents, once we have received the Form I-730 from the domestic USCIS office.

**Please Note:**It is important to notify our office if the beneficiary’s contact information changes from what is on their Form I-730. You should inform us of any such changes by submitting the change by email to this office.

**Purpose:**

Lawful permanent residents may pick up a reentry permit you applied for by filing Form I-131, Application for Travel Document, to return to the United States travel abroad in certain circumstances (PDF, 667.32 KB).

**Filing and Other Special Instructions:**

**This office does not adjudicate re-entry permits.**This office only provides service if you applied for a reentry permit by filing Form I-131, Application for Travel Document, in the United States and asked USCIS to send your reentry permit to the U.S. Embassy/USCIS in San Salvador.

If we receive contact information, USCIS San Salvador will contact you when your Form I-131 has been approved by an office in the United States and your reentry permit is ready for collection. If you believe your permit should be at USCIS San Salvador and you have not heard from us, you may send us an inquiry.

Find instructions on how to obtain or replace a reentry permit at How Do I Get a Reentry Permit (PDF, 667.32 KB).

**Purpose:**

Biometrics collection supports certain applications and petitions pending with a USCIS international office and, in some cases, with a domestic office.

**Filing and Other Special Instructions:**

If USCIS has requested biometrics (such as fingerprints, photograph, and/or signature) in association with the adjudication of the forms listed below, individuals residing in El Salvador generally may request biometrics collection at our office:
                    - Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative ;
                    - Form I-131, Application for Travel Document  (Refugee Travel Document (RTD)), if the applicant has departed the United States without an RTD and has received permission from USCIS to file Form I-131 from outside the United States. Otherwise, it is at the field office director’s discretion as we explain in the section For All Other Forms Not Listed Above;
                    - Form I-360, Petition for Amerasian, Widow(er) or Special Immigrant ;
                    - Form I-600, Petition to Classify Orphan as an Immediate Relative —We do not always require residency;
                    - Form I-600A, Application for Advance Processing of Orphan Petition —We do not always require residency;
                    - Form I-730, Refugee/Asylee Relative Petition ;
                    - Form I-800A, Application for Determination of Suitability to Adopt from Convention Country —We do not always require residency;
                    - Form I-914, Application for T Nonimmigrant Status ;
                    - Form I-918, Petition for U Nonimmigrant Status ;
                    - Form N-400, Application for Naturalization —for active duty military service members stationed abroad and their dependents, and for certain applicants who are eligible for naturalization under section 319(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

**For All Other Forms Not Listed Above:**

USCIS usually schedules biometrics collection at an Application Support Center (ASC) in the United States based on the applicant’s or petitioner’s address of record.

In **rare** circumstances, international field office directors may use their discretion to collect biometrics that we initially scheduled for collection in the United States. When deciding whether to collect biometrics at an international field office, field office directors will consider resource constraints and appropriate supporting evidence the applicant provides, as well as the following factors:
                    - An appointment notice showing that we scheduled biometrics collection at a domestic USCIS office;
                    - Evidence of extenuating circumstances requiring the individual to depart the United States before we collected their biometrics as indicated in the appointment notice. For example, these circumstances might include, but are not limited to, the need to assist a critically ill family member, an unexpected immediate job transfer, or other urgent need; and
                    - Evidence that the applicant requested an expedited or rescheduled appointment at an ASC before leaving the United States, or an explanation of why they failed to request an expedited or rescheduled appointment.
                    - For those residing abroad: Evidence of the compelling circumstances or hardship that would prevent the applicant or petitioner from traveling back to the United States for an ASC appointment. Generally, we do not consider the expense of traveling back to the United States to be a hardship in itself.

Because of the small number of staff in our international offices, you may experience a delay in appointment availability for biometrics collection.

You can contact USCIS San Salvador to determine whether you are eligible to have your biometrics captured at this office or for further information.

***Note**: The available biometric services noted above only apply if you live in a country with a USCIS office.

Form I-601, Application for Waiver of Grounds of Inadmissibility, Form and Fee Information

**Purpose:**

If you are inadmissible to the United States and are otherwise approved to immigrate to the United States, you must file this form to seek a waiver of certain grounds of inadmissibility.

**Filing and Other Special Instructions:**

Except as we explain below, you must file Form I-601 with the USCIS Lockbox in the United States by mail. If you believe you have extraordinary circumstances that require expedited processing, you may submit a written request for expedited processing along with your application when you file with the Lockbox. You can find further instructions on requesting expedited processing domestically on the How to Make an Expedite Request webpage.

**To file with USCIS San Salvador in limited circumstances:**

You must request an exception to Lockbox filing via email.

We may grant an exception to Lockbox filing and permission to file Form I-601 if:
                    - The applicant resides in El Salvador;
                    - There are exceptional and compelling humanitarian circumstances that require immediate filing and adjudication; and
                    - Expedited processing would not address the urgency of the circumstances.

For information about the exceptions to Lockbox filing and permission to file Form I-601 at an international office, including examples of possible qualifying circumstances, please see the USCIS policy memorandum (PDF, 78.82 KB) on exceptions for international filing.

Form I-212, Application for Permission to Reapply for Admission into the United States After Deportation or Removal, Form and Fee Information

**Purpose:**

If you have been deported or removed, or unlawfully returned to the United States without admission after a previous removal or unlawful presence, you may file this form to obtain consent to reapply for admission to the United States.

**Filing and Other Special Instructions:**

File with the USCIS office in the United States indicated in the Form I-212 instructions.

If you need to file both Form I-212 and Form I-601, file them together at the Lockbox address specified in the Form I-601 instructions.

If USCIS San Salvador decides that exceptional and compelling humanitarian circumstances warrant filing your Form I-601 with USCIS San Salvador, you can also file Form I-212 with Form I-601.

If you file Form I-601 and Form I-212 together, be sure to bring the correct filing fee for each separate form.

Please see the information below to file for other immigration benefits this office does not provide.

uscis.gov
                - Obtaining  a certified true copy of a naturalization certificate .
                - Requesting copies of documents from your Alien file (A-File) through a  Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request .
                - Our  USCIS Contact Center  has additional information available on its webpage (you must live in the United States or its territories to call for live assistance).
                - The  USCIS Contact Center’s Reference Guide  is available from anywhere around the globe. The guide provides additional information on the services USCIS provides.

## Visas

For in-depth information about visas, please check the Visa Services section of the Department of State’s website. You May also visit Mission El Salvador's Visa website.

12/30/2020

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