The International Customer Association launched Customer Service Week in 1988 to recognize the importance of customer service and to honor people who provide the best examples of great service. In 1992 Congress proclaimed Customer Service Week a nationally recognized event.

During Customer Service Week, we at USCIS celebrate the achievements of customer service staff and thank them for the work that makes a difference to our customers as they encounter the complex world of immigration benefits.

Looking back, our predecessor, The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) was one of the first to initiate a prototype centralized telephone center in 1985. The prototype proved successful and evolved into today’s U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) National Customer Service Center (NCSC), which now receives nearly 16 million calls a year and handles telephone inquiries from throughout the United States.

Since then, USCIS has continually sought ways to improve the customer experience, which has admittedly had its ups-and-downs through the years.

Last year, we launched a redesigned website as well as a completely new Spanish-language version of the site. USCIS.gov and USCIS.gov español both provide case status online and have consistently scored above the government website average in online user surveys. In fact, the Spanish-language website recently tied for first place with NASA’s home page.

We have also contracted with an independent agency to monitor customer performance at our field offices and the NCSC. They conduct monthly telephone surveys, in-person interviews, and online surveys once every three months. In addition, USCIS conducts focus groups four times a year to gather in-depth customer feedback and suggestions for service improvement.

Through these four survey methods, we have been able to improve the information provided by the NCSC’s Interactive Voice Response System and on our website. Overall, statistics shows that our customer satisfaction rating has steadily improved from 63% in 2000 to 83.3% in 2010.

We hope to continue this positive trend and we welcome your comments and suggestions as to how we can best improve our customer service to meet your needs.

Labels: customer service

Starting this week, USCIS is launching four new online features to give you more accessibility to your case information. The new tools include:

• Online Inquiry Tool for Select Forms: If your case is outside the posted processing times and you filed an Application to Replace Permanent Resident Card (Form I-90) or an Application for Naturalization (Form N-400), you can now submit an electronic inquiry directly to the appropriate Field Office or Service Center instead of calling the National Customer Service number or making an InfoPass appointment with the local office. Additionally, once the electronic inquiry is received, USCIS now commits to a 15-day customer response, reduced from the previous commitment to respond within 30 days. We may be expanding this program to include other applications and petitions in the future.
• Specific Adjudication Steps by Form Type on My Case Status: Now when you check your case status online, the steps you see will be specific to your petition or application. Until recently, the website listed seven identical steps for all forms, even though not all the steps applied to all the forms. With the new feature, steps are customized for more than 40 form types.
• E-mail Notification in Spanish: When you register to receive e-mail updates on your case status, you can now elect to receive messages in English or Spanish. Until now, all messages had been in English.
• Change of Address Online in Spanish: You will now be able to submit a Change of Address Online in English or Spanish. Until now, the service had been provided only in English.

For more information visit our website.

Labels: customer service

Many of you may wonder about the system USCIS uses to answer customer service phone calls. The National Customer Service Center (NCSC) is the operation that provides telephone customer support for USCIS.

The NCSC provides most callers with answers to frequently asked questions through an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) System. Callers can select messages that provide information about eligibility requirements, instructions for filing applications, and even some case-status information. USCIS also offers callers the option to speak to a customer service representative and Immigration Services Officers from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday through Friday in each of the four time zones in the United States, excluding Federal holidays. Service for calls from Puerto Rico, the American Virgin Islands, Alaska, Hawaii and Guam is slightly reduced due to the time zone differences. Those located outside the United States should check with the U.S. Department of State for contact information in their country of residence.

Over 1 Million Calls a Month

Currently, the NCSC receives an average of 1 million calls per month. Information provided on the toll-free line is consistent with information found on the USCIS website. To ensure the accuracy of information provided through USCIS call centers, USCIS uses various quality assurance tools and measurements such as call monitoring, call recording, and "mystery shopper" calls. We also engage our customers who use the telephone center service to determine their level of satisfaction with the services provided. Customer satisfaction ratings have consistently exceeded 82% in four of the past five fiscal years.

We welcome any comments from readers on your experience with the National Customer Service Center - what has worked well and what, if anything, you would like to see improved.

Labels: customer service