Immigration services offered at Sembach Kaserne

Troops driving to Frankfurt to sort out immigrations issues for foreign family members might be a thing of the past, thanks to a new U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services outreach effort.

Each month a USCIS representative will be at Sembach Kaserne, a U.S. Army Garrison Kaiserslautern installation, to accept immigration petitions (I-130) and answer questions on naturalization. Army and Air Force service members and civilians from the KMC, plus those at U.S. Army Garrison Baumholder, are welcome to use the new service.

Applicants often fill out forms incorrectly or don’t include supporting documents, which can cause delays, said Don Owens, a USCIS immigration information assistant, who will be offering the outreach.

“Most applications — about 60 to 70 percent — are filled out incorrectly or missing documents,” Owen said. “We can help people fix those things on the spot.”
Nearly every day a service member arrives at the Kleber Kaserne passport office asking how to bring a foreign born family member stateside, said Sean Osborne, a garrison passport agent. Planning early is the key thing.

“We have a lot of Soldiers and family members say they are leaving in two weeks and need to get a visa,” Osborne said. “That’s not enough time.”

Filing the I-130 form can be challenging. Immigration applications can take several months, he said. Without proper documents, foreign-born family members entering the U.S. may face legal issues. One former employee’s spouse entered the U.S. under false pretenses and was then barred from the states for five years, Osborne said.

Now, with the USCIS outreach, those service members can avoid booking appointments, driving to Frankfurt, finding parking and returning several times to correct errors, Osborne said.

“This should streamline the process, help customers more and also save time for office,” Osborne said.

Most applications are for military members with foreign born spouses. Others are for parents, children or siblings to immigrate. In the past, USCIS visited the KMC annually. Recently, they noticed several applications from service members in the Baumholder and Kaiserslautern areas, prompting the monthly outreach.

“It’s a pretty large community, so we’ll bring the services to them,” Owens said. “This is a trial run. If there’s a great response, we’ll continue this service.”

The upcoming USCIS outreach takes place from 9 to 11 a.m. and 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. Aug. 7 in Bldg. 151, Room 236, on Sembach Kaserne.
For more information, call 0631-411-8892.