The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently updated their website with information on common scams reported to USCIS that have the potential to negatively impact our religious worker clients and their employers as they navigate their immigration process. The following is a summary of a few of the most common scams to look out for.

Government Impersonators:

Individuals posing as USCIS officials may try to communicate through your personal social media accounts (such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc.). USCIS will only contact you through official government channels and primarily through correspondence sent through the mail and typically sent to your attorney of record. Social media pages, email offers, and websites that claim to be affiliated with USCIS may be impersonating USCIS if the website or email address does not end with .gov.

Payments by Phone or Email:

USCIS will never ask you to transfer money to an individual. USCIS does not accept PayPal, Venmo, Cash App, Zelle, or any kind of gift cards as payment for immigration fees. USCIS will never ask you to pay their fees to a person on the phone or via email. The only online payment that is acceptable to USCIS is payment made for immigration fees through your USCIS online account or pay.gov.

Winning the Visa Lottery:

The U.S. Department of State, not USCIS, manages the Diversity Immigration Visa (DV) Program. USCIS will not contact you about the DV program and winning the visa lottery. The DV program is free and neither USCIS nor the U.S. Department of State will send you an email with selection results.

Scams Targeting Students:

USCIS urges foreign students who want to the come to the United States for education to ensure that they are applying to an accredited college or university. In order to travel to the United States, a foreign student must have a Form I-20, Certificate of Eligibility for Nonimmigration Student Status. You must be accepted into a Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP)-certified school in order to obtain a Form I-20. Students who receive threatening calls or intimidating messages over social media impersonating USCIS should contact their school officials. Scammers will solicit funds from foreign students under a fake university to illegally extort money. For more information, USCIS suggests that foreign students visit: https://studyinthestates.dhs.gov/2015/08/scams-targeting-international-students-are-rise.

Paying Money for Connections or Jumping the Line:

Businesses and websites may pretend to be immigration professionals or say they have a special connection to the government and can “guarantee” a visa, green card, or work permit faster if you pay a fee. These businesses and websites are not legitimate. USCIS is the only governing body that can determine whether processing can be expedited. Premium processing is only available for Form I-129, Form I-140, and some Form I-765 and Form I-539 filings. Current processing times can be found on the USCIS website: https://egov.uscis.gov/processing-times/.

Form I-9 and Email Scams:

USCIS has been made aware of employers who have received scam emails appearing to be from USCIS requesting Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification information. Employers are never required to submit Forms I-9 to USCIS. Any email, including emails from email addresses that end in .gov, are a scam if they are requesting Form I-9 information. Be aware that the body of the scam email may look legitimate in that they contain USCIS or Office of the Inspector General labels, addresses, or false government links. Do not respond to these scam emails or access any links embedded in these emails.

If you suspect that you may be subject to immigration fraud, USCIS suggests that you report the fraud to the Federal Trade Commission or your state consumer protection office. If you receive a suspicious email, you can forward it directly to USCIS for review at USCIS.Webmaster@uscis.dhs.gov. Please reach out to your assigned RIS attorney with any questions or concerns.

For more information please visit: https://www.uscis.gov/scams-fraud-and-misconduct/avoid-scams/common-scams.