The Immigration and Naturalization Service has established a new procedure for Salvadorans and Guatemalans who are class members under the settlement in American Baptist Churches v. Thornburgh, 760 F. Supp. 796 (N.D.Cal. 1991) (ABC) to give the agency notice of changed addresses.  In the past, ABC class members gave notice of changed addresses by mailing a notice to a special ABC Project post office box in Washington, D.C.  Under the new procedure, ABC class members should send the notice to the asylum office that has jurisdiction over their asylum claims.

The Federal Register notice announcing the new procedure explains that the P.O. box was necessary in past years because not all ABC class members had submitted asylum applications.  However, since all Guatemalan class members had to file asylum applications by Jan. 3, 1995, and all Salvadoran class members had to file for asylum by Jan. 31, 1996 (with an administrative grace period to Feb. 16, 1996), all individuals still eligible for ABC benefits must have pending asylum applications.  Thus, the P.O. box now simply adds an unnecessary administrative step to the INS’s processing of address changes.  However, the notice advises that class members may still send their notice of change of address to the P.O. box, and the INS will process them.

The notice also explains that ABC class members, like all other noncitizens, must send the INS notice of change of address within ten days of any such change.  ABC class members may do this in a variety of ways.  They may use Form I-855, ABC Change of Address Form, or they may use a plain piece of paper containing the class member’s full printed name, date of birth, nationality, alien registration number (A-number) and the current and previous address.  They also may use the AR-11 change-of-address card.

[64 Fed. Reg. 32,890–92 (June 18, 1999).]