U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services opens a new international field office in Addis Ababa to handle immigration matters and support fraud prevention
Borkena Desk
TORONTO, Canada — U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced this week that it is opening a new international field office in Addis Ababa.
Operations began on September 9, just days before the eve of the Ethiopian New Year.
“The office will handle USCIS immigration matters in Ethiopia,” USCIS said in a news release published on September 9, 2026. Updated information on USCIS international offices states that “USCIS Addis Ababa has jurisdiction over U.S. immigration matters in Ethiopia.”
Among other things, the office will support fraud prevention.
“USCIS staff in Addis Ababa will verify the authenticity of foreign documents, investigate suspected fraud, and collect DNA to confirm family relationships,” USCIS explained regarding the office’s purpose.
According to the agency, tasks like these used to be coordinated through the Department of State. Following the opening of the office, the U.S. immigration agency will maintain a “dedicated presence” in the country to handle workloads directly without routing tasks through the Department of State.
The change is portrayed as “part of a broader effort to better align USCIS’ overseas operations with agency priorities and strengthen the agency’s overseas operational capacity.”
It remains unclear whether the office will employ local staff or assign personnel directly from USCIS.
However, the office specified that service delivery is strictly by appointment. To request an appointment at the Addis Ababa office, clients must send an email to AddisAbaba-USCIS@uscis.dhs.gov.
USCIS operates eleven other international offices, including locations in China.
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