On August 15, 2014, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a press release addressing humanitarian relief that may potentially be available to nationals of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone who are currently in the U.S. USCIS is closely monitoring the Ebola outbreak in West Africa and offers relief measures to nationals of those three countries who are currently in the United States.
Immigration relief measures that may be available, if requested and appropriate, include:
- Change or extension of nonimmigrant status for an individual currently in the United States, even if the request is filed after the authorized period of admission has expired;
- Extension of certain grants of parole made by USCIS;
- Expedited adjudication and approval, where possible, of requests for off-campus employment authorization for F-1 students experiencing severe economic hardship;
- Expedited processing of immigrant petitions for immediate relatives (currently in the United States) of U.S. citizens;
- Expedited adjudication of employment authorization applications, where appropriate; and
- Consideration for waiver of fees associated with USCIS benefit applications.