Green card system shifts

Applications must be mailed to California

Hector Gutierrez, Rocky Mountain News

Published June 1, 2005 at midnight

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Thousands of immigrants in Colorado who have either lost or need to renew their permanent residency cards must now mail their applications and fees totaling $255 to Southern California.

That means authorized immigrants in the state will no longer be able to submit their forms to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services at its Denver district office in Montbello or send their applications to the Nebraska Service Center. The new policy took effect Tuesday.

"It's the only way to do this, and it's by mail," said Sharon Rummery, spokeswoman for Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Citizenship and Immigration Services, which is under the Department of Homeland Security, also announced that immigrants must submit their I-90 applications for permanent resident cards, known as "green cards," to the Los Angeles Lockbox, a new processing facility that the agency hopes will speed up the collection of applications and petitions.

Immigration lawyer Margaret C. Makar said the new system makes sense.

"It would be more efficient to go straight to Los Angeles. Otherwise, it would just bounce around in the system," Makar said.

However, Makar added that it was important for federal authorities and others to spread the word about the new procedural changes because immigrants may not be aware of Tuesday's announcement in the Federal Register.

Many immigrants need the residency cards for jobs and to travel.

"You will just encourage delay if you don't follow the new instructions," she said.

Immigrants who are replacing their old cards must mail in their I-90 forms with an application fee of $185 and a fingerprint or biometrics fee of $70. The new processing center then will return receipts to the applicants that tell them where and when to get their fingerprints taken and what materials they need to provide the Citizenship and Immigrations Services.

Applications

• Through the U.S. Postal Service: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, P.O. Box 54870, Los Angeles, CA 90054-0870.

• Through private couriers: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Attention: I-90, 16420 Valley View Ave., La Mirada, CA 90638.

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