INS to Hold Local Outreach Program

Immigration and Naturalization Service officers will provide local outreach next month to accept and review applications for green cards, work permits, visas and passport stamps.

Armando Garcia of the National Multi-Ethnic Families Assn., which is sponsoring the event, said as many as 200 people are expected to meet with INS officers between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. Aug. 1 at NaMEFA’s office at 730 South A St.

Officers from the district office in Los Angeles will also answer questions about family petitions for spouses and children, applications to adjust status and for naturalization, but they will not accept new applications for naturalization status, Garcia said.

He urged area residents with questions to drop by his office at least a week before the meeting with their permanent resident alien numbers, which he will fax to INS officers so they can bring a printout of the germane application status.

Appointments are not required, but all new applications must be complete, as INS officers will not assist in the preparation of forms.

Photos and accredited fingerprinting will be available on the premises, said Garcia, adding that the INS no longer accepts fingerprint cards from local police departments and other agencies.

Personal checks will be accepted with proper identification, he said.

INS officers make periodic trips to Oxnard so immigrants who are disabled, elderly or cannot afford to take off time from work will not have to travel to the Federal Building in downtown Los Angeles.

“People go there early in the morning, take a number and get in line,” Garcia said. “Hopefully, they’ll get seen that day.”

The INS had an office in the La Colonia section of Oxnard until the early 1990s. But cutbacks forced its closure, Garcia said.