Local USCIS Office in Fort Smith, Arkansas
The citizenship and immigration service (USCIS) offers a range of immigration services through its field locations. These locations are divided into Regions and Districts: the 26 Districts are in four regions: Northeast, Central, Western, and Southeast. Note that the number of districts is lesser than the number of states and territories. A district can have jurisdiction over more than one state.
The nearest USCIS field office nearest to you is where you will go for your interview and your biometrics. You can learn about this location by contacting the federal agency or searching it on their site using your zip code. The USCIS tool provides you with the name and current address of the field location. Note that the agency can also forward your case to another location to speed up proceedings. However, this won’t affect where your biometrics takes place.
The Fort Smith Field Office
The Fort Smith office is located in the New Orleans District at the following address:
Fort Smith (FSA) 4624 Kelley Highway Fort Smith, AR 72904
The field location serves the following areas:
- Ashley
- Boone, Baxter, Benton, Bradley
- Carroll, Columbia, Calhoun, Crawford, Clark
- Franklin
- Garland
- Howard, Hot Crawford, Hempstead
- Johnson
- Little River, Logan, Lafayette
- Miller, Madison, Montgomery, Miller
- Newton, Nevada
- Quachita
- Polk, Pike
- Sevier, Searcy, Sebastian
- Union
- Washington
Field offices are special places that have certain restrictions you need to follow. Here are some tips for visiting:
- If you’re in the U.S., call the federal agency to book your date and time, because the option to walk in is currently unavailable at all locations.
- Talk in a low volume when in the waiting area and keep your phone on silent.
- Don’t carry anything that may be considered a weapon. You’re not allowed to carry pepper spray, knives, firearms, or ammo inside the field location.
- If you can’t make it to your appointment for some reason call as soon as possible to inform.
- If you need disability assistance, you can request it online in the following section.
Case Processing Times
Processing times for various form types are available online. The USCIS uses two methods for calculating these times. In the standard method, the agency has a cap of 130% of the duration. In the new method, the agency shows you the time for processing 50% and 93% of the applications respectively. This new method is available for 14 different forms including the following (Fort Smith times):
- N-400 (Naturalization): 12 to 17.5 months
- N-600 (Certificate of Citizenship): 6.5 to 14.5 months
- N-600K (Citizenship and Issuance of Certificate): 10 to 22.5 months
The duration may be different for another location. If your case is taking more time than expected to process, then you can request information from the agency. For this, you will have to see the case inquiry date given on the same page as the processing info. Besides the inquiry date, the page will also guide you on inquiry eligibility and submission.
Immigration Options
If you’re new to the immigration process and looking to explore your options, the USCIS site is a good place to start. It has a tool that allows you to search for options based on your current status. Besides this tool, there is also a lot of reading material on topics like citizenship, green card, and immigration laws.