Note: INS enforcement and service functions and responsibilities transitioned into the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
The Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (BCIS) are now called the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
USCIS Website url: http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis
Just when people may have thought they had memorized the names and acronyms of the various new governmental entities involved with immigration, there appears to be yet another change. The term “bureau” has been eliminated from the names of the various entities which, for reasons of their own, find it unsuitable. So now we have the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS or CIS), the Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
In the case of the former BCIS, it appears that the “B” was dropped, but “US” for United States has now been added. We have heard that the former BCIS is being referred to as “CIS” more often than “USCIS,” but the latter term has started appearing on official information received from them. This change does not seem to have any substantive affect, as on filing fee checks, for example. Filing fees will be accepted at this time whether checks are made out to USCIS, BCIS, or DHS.
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