October 2005 USCIS Announces Fee Adjustments   September 26, 2005  Washington, D.C.   U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today in the Federal Register a revised fee structure for immigration benefits.  The new fee structure becomes effective on October 26, 2005 and will add an average of $10 to each application and petition in order to account for inflation.  Fees collected from persons filing immigration benefit applications and petitions are used to fund the full cost of providing immigration benefits, including the full cost of providing benefits such as asylum and refugee admission for which no fee is charged.   The fees were last adjusted in April 2004 to account for additional security enhancements performed on all immigration benefits after September 11, 2001 and other costs.  The new fee structure reflects an inflation adjustment, as required by the April 2004 fee rule, to be published by notice in the Federal Register for periods on or after October 1, 2005.     USCIS Notifies I-90 Applicants of Process Change   September 7, 2005   Washington, DC   U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is announcing changes to the Form I-90 filing process to correct previous USCIS errors on an expedited basis without charging applicants an additional filing fee.  USCIS will apply this process to errors in production and delivery of permanent resident cards, including those received through the immigrant visa process.   Because USCIS’ current systems for permanent resident card replacement cannot accommodate these changes, an alternative process has been established for the benefit of customers affected by a USCIS error.  All applicants filing a Form I-90 (Application to Replace a Permanent Resident Card) with Application Reason “b” (My card was never received) or “d” (My authorized card was issued with incorrect information because of a USCIS administrative error) under Part 2, Section 2 of the I-90 application, should follow USCIS guidelines in order to receive expedited processing without paying additional fees.   Effective today, applicants who file an I-90 Application to Replace a Permanent Resident Card using Application Reason “b” or “d” should NOT file their applications via the Direct Mail Program or the e-Filing system.  All I-90 applicants, with Application Reasons other than “b” and “d”, shall continue to file their applications via the Direct Mail Program or the e-Filing system, with appropriate fees.   The following addresses should be used by applicants mailing their I-90 applications with supporting documentation to the USCIS service Center or National Benefits Center (NBC) that processed the application that led to the most recent permanent resident card:   California Service Center Attn: I-90 “b” or “d”  P.O. Box 10090 Laguna Niguel, CA  92607-1009 Texas Service Center Attn: I-90 “b” or “d”  P.O. Box 851983 Mesquite, TX  75185-1983 National Benefits Center Attn: I-551 Corrections 705B SE Melody Lane, Box 2000 Lee’s Summit, MO  64063 Nebraska Service Center Attn: I-90 “b” or “d”  PO Box 87090 Lincoln, NH  68501-7090 Vermont Service Center Attn: I-90 “b” or “d” 75 Lower Welden Street St. Albans, VT  05479-0001     I-90 applicants with questions regarding this notice should contact the USCIS National Customer Service Center (NCSC) toll-free at 1-800-375-5283.     National Association of Boards of Pharmacy Update   October 12, 2005    The next Foreign Pharmacy Graduate Equivalency Examination (FPGEE) will be held December 3, 2005 and offered at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City, NY, the Midwestern Conference Center in Northlake (Chicago), IL, and the Moscone Center in San Francisco, CA.   Registration letters to those eligible to sit for the December 3, 2005 FPGEE were mailed on Tuesday, September 20, 2005.  The onsite registration for the December examination is now open until October 24, 2005.   Please see the ‘Online Resources’ section of this newsletter for additional information.     A New Electronic Reporting Service for State Boards of Nursing   The CGFNS Credentials Evaluation Service is now providing an electronic reporting service to the U.S. State Boards of Nursing.  This exciting change means that State Boards of Nursing can access and print the CES reports of their applicants upon completion of CGFNS’s review without having to wait for mail delivery.  In addition, State Boards of Nursing may also check the status of an applicant and access quarterly activity reports online.   A secure section for the US State Boards has been designated for CES Connect on the CGFNS website.  State Boards of Nursing will receive email notifications when a report is complete.   Please see our 'Online Resources' section for a chart created by CGFNS for Foreign Educated Nurses, which indicates the CGFNS requirement for each US State Boards of Nursing.   Introducing Our Staff   Kristin Burnette is our new Administrative Assistant.  She obtained her Bachelor’s Degree in English from Butler University in Indianapolis, IN, and taught English at the middle level for the last eleven years.   Kristin recently joined Goff and Wilson in September 2005.  She assists our Attorneys and other support staff with large employment-based immigrant visa petitions, including healthcare and long term care facilities. She also assists clients who are adjusting their status while in the US. In addition, Kristin is responsible for providing customer service to our clients and assists with telephone inquiries.   Kristin has two small girls, Avery and Sydney, who keep her busy at home.  She is also happily adjusting to her new life in New Hampshire, having recently relocated from the Midwest so that her husband could begin his first year of law school at Franklin Pierce Law Center. Welcome, Kristin! To read the Frequently Asked Questions about the upcoming FPGEE exam please visit http://www.nabp.net/faq/faqfpgee.asp   For more information about the US State Boards of Nursing requirements for foreign educated nurses please refer to Pages 4 and 5 of HealthScope International: http://cgfns.org/pdf/hs/2005/hs_winter_05.pdf If you have any comments on our newsletter, any topics you would like to see reviewed or if you have news, events or other items of interest that you would like to share - please forward your comments and suggestions to abouley@goffandwilson.com. Copyright 2004 Goff and Wilson Professional Association - www.goffandwilson.com - unsubscribe One Capitol St., PO Box 347, Concord, NH 03302-0347 v: 603.228.1277    f: 603.226.0791    info@goffandwilson.com