USCIS Memorandum, Parole Decision Authority

U.S. Department of Justice Immigration and Naturalization Service HQIAO 120/17.1 425 I Street NW Washington, DC 20536 March 16, 2001 MEMORANDUM FOR REGIONAL DIRECTORS DEPUTY EXECUTIVE ASSOCIATE COMMISSIONER IMMIGRATION SERVICE DIVISION DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS / S / FROM: Michael A. Pearson Executive Associate Commissioner Office of Field Operations SUBJECT: Parole Decision Authority In 1992, the Headquarters Office of International Affairs (HQIAO) temporarily delegated the humanitarian parole authority to the three overseas district offices. HQIAO has decided to transfer all humanitarian parole casework back from the overseas district offices to the HQIAO, Parole Branch, in order to centralize the decision-making process, achieve greater consistency, and allow overseas district personnel to concentrate on other important work. HQIAO has developed a three-phase process in order to achieve this plan and to make the transfer of the parole authority as smooth as possible. The three phases of this process are as follows.

1. Effective 1 March 2001, all humanitarian parole requests of persons residing under the jurisdiction of the Bangkok District Office (Burma, Japan, China, Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Philippines, the entire Pacific) should be forwarded to HQIAO, Attention: Parole Branch. 2. Effective 1 June 2001, all humanitarian parole requests of persons residing under the jurisdiction of the Mexico City District Office (Latin America, South America, the Caribbean) should be forwarded to HQIAO, Attention: Parole Branch.

Memorandum for Regional Directors , et al. Subject: Parole Decision Authority Page 2 3. Effective 1 September 2001, all humanitarian parole requests of persons residing under the jurisdiction of the Rome District Office (Europe, India, Russia, Pakistan, Africa, Bangladesh, Middle East) should be forwarded to HQIAO, Attention: Parole Branch The transfer of this authority applies only to requests for humanitarian parole that are filed using the I-131. The overseas District Directors retain the discretionary authority to grant parole in emergency situations.

This change in the delegation of authority will be published in the Code of Federal Regulations, Operations instructions and the INS Internet. If you have any questions, please forward them to the HQIAO Parole Branch.