On April 20, 2017, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it had changed the direct filing addresses for filing certain forms for L, O, or P nonimmigrant beneficiaries who will be working or training in Florida, Georgia, or North Carolina [link]. In this post, we will detail the changes.

Beginning on May 20, 2017, a petitioner requesting L, O, or P nonimmigrant status for a beneficiary who will be working or training in Florida, Georgia, or North Carolina must file the relevant Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker, and/or Form I-129S, Nonimmigrant Petition Based on Blanket L Petition, with the California Service Center. Starting on July 20, 2017, the USCIS will reject any such petition filed with the wrong service center.

However, there is one exception to the above rule. If the petitioner is filing a P major league sports-related petition, he or she must continue to file the Form I-129 with the Vermont Service Center.

Our website has a wide selection of articles on the L, O, and P nonimmigrant classifications. Please see our website’s ever-growing section on Work Visas to read about these nonimmigrant visa categories in detail [see category]. The USCIS website has detailed information on where to file all immigration forms. Furthermore, an experienced immigration attorney can help ensure that a petitioner properly completes all of the filing requirements for a petition, including correct filing.