U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) reminds those affected by Typhoon Haiyan, which struck the Philippines on Nov. 8, 2013, of agency efforts to provide relief to victims of the typhoon.

Filipino nationals in the United States should visit www.uscis.gov to learn about a series of existing relief measures that may be available to them if requested. These relief measures include:

  • A change or extension of nonimmigrant status for an individual currently in the United States, even when the request is filed after the authorized period of admission has expired;
  • An extension of certain grants of parole made by USCIS;
  • An extension of certain grants of advance parole, and expedited processing of advance parole requests;
  • Expedited adjudication and approval, where possible, of requests for off-campus employment authorization for F-1 students experiencing severe economic hardship;
  • Expedited processing of immigrant petitions for immediate relatives of U.S. citizens;
  • Expedited adjudication of employment authorization applications, where appropriate; and
  • Assistance to LPRs stranded overseas without immigration or travel documents, such as Permanent Resident Cards (Green Cards). USCIS and the Department of State will coordinate on these matters when the LPR is stranded in a place that has no local USCIS office.

In addition, USCIS has proactively identified and is expediting pending  I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, forms that have been filed by U.S. citizens for their Filipino immediate relatives. Our standard security checks remain in place.

Source: USCIS Release Date January 14, 2014