WASHINGTON—U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today announced a revised filing location for individuals filing an Immigrant Petition by Alien Entrepreneur (Form I-526). The new form version, which is dated 4/21/10, requires petitioners to file at the USCIS Lockbox rather than at a Service Center. This is part of an overall effort to transition the intake of benefit forms from Service Centers to USCIS Lockbox facilities. Centralizing form and fee intake to a Lockbox environment allows USCIS to provide customers with more efficient and effective initial processing of applications and fees.

Beginning Aug. 3, 2010, regardless of the location of the new commercial enterprise, petitioners submitting Form I-526 must mail their petitions to the USCIS Dallas Lockbox facility. The filing address can be found in Form I-526 instructions at www.uscis.gov.

The USCIS California Service Center will forward Forms I-526 to the USCIS Dallas Lockbox facility for 45 days. After Sept. 17, 2010, the California Service Center will return all incorrectly filed petitions to the petitioner along with a note to send the petition to the correct location.

Petitioners filing Form I-526 at the USCIS Dallas Lockbox facility may elect to receive an e-mail and/or text message notifying them of acceptance of their application/petition. To receive the notification, the petitioner must complete an E-Notification of Application/Petition Acceptance (Form G-1145), and attach it to the first page of the petition.

For more information on USCIS programs, visit www.uscis.gov or call the USCIS National Customer Service Center at 1-800-375-5283.