USCIS Website Changes Its Name
Posted Nov 07, 2003

As we reported on September 12, 2003 in our MurthyBulletin article, BCIS Now Prefers to be USCIS!, available on MurthyDotCom, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services now is to be referred to as "USCIS" rather than "BCIS." In keeping with this change, the USCIS changed its WebSite on November 1, 2003 to reflect its new name. Since November 3, 2003, all visitors to the INS or BCIS URLs have been redirected to the new URL. It is unclear how long these older domains will be available to redirect visitors the new site before they are terminated.

Recently, we have seen some checks returned with the notation that they need to be made payable to "USCIS" instead of "DHS" or "INS." Previously, CIS Headquarters officials had stated that they prefer checks to be made payable to the DHS. Now it appears they require "CIS" or "USCIS," in keeping with their new acronym.

We are hopeful that renaming of the website concludes all name change issues for the foreseeable future. With this latest implementation, the USCIS' technology teams should be able to focus on improvements to their Case Status Online system, progress in eFiling applications viability, and coordination of their technology with that of the other agencies involved in the immigration process.