Organization, functions, and authority delegations: Regional, district, and field offices; organizational structure changes,
[Federal Register: November 22, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 225)]
[Notices]
[Page 67623-67624]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr22no06-86]
DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
Citizenship and Immigration Services
RIN 1615-ZA44
[DHS Docket No. USCIS-2006-0066]
Changes to the Regional, District and Field Office Organizational Structure Within U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
AGENCY: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Department of Homeland Security.
ACTION: Notice.
SUMMARY: This notice informs the public of changes to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services' (USCIS') regional, district and field office organizational structure due to a recent realignment of the command and control responsibilities within USCIS' Domestic Operations Directorate, Field Operations Division. This action is necessary to balance the workload and personnel among USCIS field offices and improve customer service. USCIS does not plan to close any of its existing offices as a result of this realignment.
DATES: This notice is effective November 22, 2006.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David Gulick, Chief of Staff, Domestic Operations Directorate, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Department of Homeland Security, 20 Massachusetts Avenue, NW., 3rd Floor, Washington, DC 20529, telephone (202) 272-2700.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
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Background.
Upon its establishment in 2003, USCIS inherited legacy Immigration and Naturalization Service's (legacy INS's) domestic field office structure consisting of 3 regions and 33 districts. USCIS' workload and workforce distribution, however, varies greatly from that of legacy INS. Consequently, the continuation of the legacy INS field office structure resulted in an unbalanced USCIS field office chain of command structure with one region having a larger workforce than the other two regions combined, and the largest districts having workforces up to 50 times larger than other districts.
In addition, within the pre-existing chain of command, in those districts with multiple field offices, the district director served as the office manager for one of the field offices while also managing the other field offices within the district. This dual role has been an obstacle to overall management of a district.
Moreover, under the pre-existing organizational structure, each regional office, district office, field office or sub-office had an assigned geographic area of responsibility. A field office manager could not exercise any power or authority over a matter that involved a customer whose place of residence or employment was located outside of his or her geographical area of responsibility, absent an express delegation of such authority by the appropriate USCIS official. In the adjudications context, rigid jurisdictional boundaries based on geography have led to situations where the USCIS office that is physically located closer to a customer's residence or place of employment does not have geographical jurisdiction to provide the customer with the requested service.
In view of the aforementioned considerations, USCIS has made a determination to realign the domestic operations field office command and control structure. This realignment is effective November 22, 2006.
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Realignment
Under this realignment, the following are the changes to the command and control structure within USCIS Domestic Operations Directorate, Field Operations Division.
Field Offices, Districts, and Regions
The keystones of USCIS' in-person services are its local offices. USCIS field offices exist based on the geographic distribution of workload requiring in-person services. No USCIS field office will be closed as a result of this realignment, nor will this realignment change the locations of any of the existing USCIS local offices. For clarity, USCIS will refer to each of these offices as a ``field office,'' managed by a ``field office director,'' rather than ``district office,'' managed by a ``district director.'' Field offices will continue to be responsible for the administration and enforcement of the Immigration and Nationality Act and all other laws relating to immigration and naturalization.
Where USCIS determines that an interview is necessary, it will schedule the applicant's interview at the appropriate field office. While most information and customer services are provided through the USCIS Web-site and toll-free customer service telephone number, individuals who believe they need in-person service can also use their zip code to make an appointment on-line at the appropriate office. Individuals without internet access can contact any USCIS office in- person for assistance in making an appointment. Using zip codes, rather than the current geographic jurisdictional alignment, to determine service areas will allow USCIS to shift interviews and other in-person services to the most convenient field office.
While the realignment does not change the locations of USCIS field offices, it does change the command structure for managing these field offices. USCIS will maintain a district management structure to lead a network of field offices. Each field office will be managed by a field office director who reports to a District Director. In the previous structure, the district director was both the field office director as well
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as the manager of a district that, in many cases, included additional field offices. The new structure allows the District Director to focus on the management of the district. Further, to achieve better balance in terms of the size of the operations managed by each district, the overall number of district offices will be reduced from 33 to 26. While primarily a consolidation of district management structures, the 26 district offices will include 2 new district offices created by splitting the existing San Francisco and Miami districts each into 2 districts.
Similarly, to achieve better balance and span of control, USCIS is increasing from 3 management regional offices to 4 management regional offices. The fourth regional office will be established in Orlando, Florida to manage USCIS operations in the Southeast. Establishing this new regional office also gives USCIS a regional office closer to the Caribbean, and thus improves USCIS capability to respond to events there.
Field Office Structure
Accordingly, the following is the USCIS' Domestic Operations field office management structure. While management districts will be identified by number rather than by location, the list also indicates (by asterisk) the city where the district manager will be located:
District 1
Boston, Massachusetts* Manchester, New Hampshire Portland, Maine Providence, Rhode Island
District 2
Albany, New York Buffalo, New York* Hartford, Connecticut St. Albans, Vermont
District 3
New York City, New York*
District 4
Mt. Laurel, New Jersey Newark, New Jersey*
District 5
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania* Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
District 6
Baltimore, Maryland*
District 7
Fairfax, Virginia* Norfolk, Virginia
District 8
Atlanta, Georgia* Charleston, South Carolina Charlotte, North Carolina Raleigh, North Carolina (under development)
District 9
Charlotte Amalie, Virgin Islands Miami, Florida* San Juan, Puerto Rico
District 10
Jacksonville, Florida Orlando, Florida Tampa, Florida* West Palm Beach, Florida
District 11
Fort Smith, Arkansas Memphis, Tennessee New Orleans, Louisiana*
District 12
Detroit, Michigan*
District 13
Cincinnati, Ohio Cleveland, Ohio* Columbus, Ohio Indianapolis, Indiana Louisville, Kentucky
District 14
Chicago, Illinois* Milwaukee, Wisconsin
District 15
Des Moines, Iowa Kansas City, Missouri* Omaha, Nebraska St. Louis, Missouri St. Paul, Minnesota
District 16
Dallas, Texas* Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
District 17
Houston, Texas*
District 18
El Paso, Texas Harlingen, Texas San Antonio, Texas*
District 19
Albuquerque, New Mexico Boise, Idaho Denver, Colorado* Helena, Montana Salt Lake City, Utah
District 20
Anchorage, Alaska Portland, Oregon Seattle, Washington* Spokane, Washington Yakima, Washington
District 21
San Francisco, California* San Jose, California
District 22
Fresno, California Sacramento, California*
District 23
Los Angeles, California* San Bernardino, California Santa Ana, California
District 24
San Diego, California*
District 25
Las Vegas, Nevada Phoenix, Arizona * Reno, Nevada Tucson, Arizona
District 26
Hagatna, Guam Honolulu, Hawaii
Regional Structure
USCIS will maintain its existing regional offices in:
Burlington, VT, which will manage Districts 1 through 7, and be referred to as the Northeast Region;
Dallas, TX, which will manage Districts 12 through 19, and be known as the Central Region; and in
Laguna Niguel, CA, which will manage Districts 20 through 26, and be known as the Western Region.
USCIS will establish the new regional office in:
Orlando, FL which will manage Districts 8 through 11, and will be known as the Southeast Region. While this regional office is in the process of being established, the Northeast Region will provide support.
Dated: November 15, 2006. Jonathan Scharfen, Deputy Director, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. [FR Doc. E6-19697 Filed 11-21-06; 8:45 am]
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