On March 1, 2003, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (Service) transferred from the Department of Justice to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), pursuant to the Homeland Security Act of 2002, Public Law 107-296. The Service's immigration services function transferred to the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (BCIS) of the DHS. This rule amends the DHS regulations concerning the signature requirement for applications and petitions filed with the BCIS by specifically permitting applicants and petitioners to sign electronically. This change is necessary to allow the BCIS to begin accepting electronically filed applications and petitions as required by law. By accepting electronically filed applications and petitions, the BCIS expects to streamline its information collection processes, improve customer service, move towards fulfilling the mandates of the Government Paperwork Elimination Act (GPEA), and support the feasibility study for online filing mandated by the Public Law 107-296. The BCIS requests comments on this rule and particularly on how it can best implement electronic signature and filing.
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