Tips for Foreign Nationals in the United States Impacted by Civil Unrest or Natural Disasters in Their Home Country

Conditions in your home country, such as civil unrest or a severe environmental disaster may impede your ability to return home as originally planned or may create temporary financial difficulties for you and your family. Extreme situations beyond your control also may affect your ability to maintain lawful immigration status while in the United States. During these special situations, temporary relief measures may be available to eligible foreign nationals.

If you are a foreign national in the United States who has been affected by civil unrest, a severe natural disaster or other extreme situation in your home country, the available options for which you may apply include:

• A change or extension of nonimmigrant status for an individual currently in the United States;
• 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 of U.S. citizens and relatives of lawful permanent residents whose priority dates are current; and
• Expedited employment authorization where appropriate.

Visitors traveling under the Visa Waiver Program may contact a USCIS local office for assistance.

For more information on USCIS humanitarian programs, visit www.uscis.gov or call the USCIS Contact Center at 1-800-375-5283. For people who are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability: TTY 800-767-1833