USCIS Now is the Official Name!
Posted Oct 22, 2004
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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a Notice in the Federal Register on October 13, 2004 officially changing the name of the immigration services agency under DHS from the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (BCIS) to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Any documents that reference BCIS are to be treated as referencing the USCIS.
©MurthyDotCom
Though the official name-change took place on August 23, 2004, and we at The Law Office of Sheela Murthy, P.C. have been referring to the agency as USCIS for much longer, the Notice clarifies the agency's official name. Confusion over the correct name may be one reason many people still incorrectly refer to the USCIS as the INS, which is no longer in existence legally. The USCIS is the successor agency to the INS. We hope and believe it is unlikely that the name will change again any time in the near future.