The USIS is the acronym for the United States Information Service. It is the overseas name for the no longer existing United States Information Agency. The USIS is a name that was sometimes used in the past, both officially and non-officially, to refer to at the very least one of the many United States federal agencies of the executive branch which has implemented United States Immigration Law. Today the main office is the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
>Check out other popular articles on the USIS, USCIS and INS:
- Learn more about the Immigration Naturalization Services, INS
- Learn more about the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service, USCIS
- Find a USCIS office near you
USIS – United States Information Service
The USIS is confused today with many immigration services. They still refer to the USIS as the United States Information Service. There are many USIS state parks that you can visit and tour but the division of the USIS in immigration exists no more.
The USCIS is the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. It is often confused with the USIS. Remember the USIS is the overseas term for the United States Information Service.
The INS refers to the Immigration and Naturalization Service. This is not the current agency for immigration although many people still use the name. The INS is no longer in existence. The USCIS, or the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, not the USIS, is the current and correct name of the administration and agency that administers immigration and naturalization services in the United States.
In March of 2003 after the Homeland Security Act of 2002 came into effect the former functions of INS were placed under three bureaus all within the scope of the Department of Homeland Security. Remember the USIS no longer was a part of this. The three bureaus are the USCIS, not the USIS, the ICE, which is the Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the CBP, which is the Customs and Border Patrol.
Since the first immigration office was created over a century ago with the USIS being one of those along the way, the services have evolved. This evolvement started in 1891 and the one we are currently under in the United States has been enacted since 2003.
In 1906, the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization came into being. That bureau stayed in effect until 1913 when the bureau divided into two separate agencies; the Bureau of Immigration and the Bureau of Naturalization. Both of these bureaus were placed under the name of the new Department of Labor.
Therefore currently the Department of Homeland Security is the head agency with the three agencies underneath it. These agencies do not include the USIS. They all do, however, have their own unique services they offer to foreign individuals looking to come to the United States.
