PIMS Query

[rider50]

Hi All,
Can you share information on what is new PIMS system?

is PIMS BG check done on candidate or Company?
And why it is done?

[shervin143]

Rider! Man! You gotta take a chill pill. Who told you that PIMS check means background check on the company or the individual? It is just the transfer of your petition information from USCIS to the consulate.

Basically, it just cuts through the transfer process of information from USCIS to KCC (Kentucky Consular Center) to the embassies, so that someone can apply for an H or the other visas much more quickly. It doesn't actually do all the other things you are hoping for as far as your background/screening checks are concerned. Even so, it's an excellent system and a major step forward from past practices.

Direct from the Department of State's website, travel.state.gov:

PIMS Processing Update: Important information for prospective employers and visa applicants, when extension of stay, change of status or petition amendment has been requested.

"The USCIS and the State Department have agreed to a process that will facilitate the entry of nonimmigrant petition-based employment visa petitions (H, L, O, P, Q) into the State Department’s Petition Information Management Service (PIMS) system, where an extension of stay, change of status, or petition amendment is requested. Upon approval of a petition where a change, extension, or amendment is requested and the petitioner provides duplicate original petitions to the USCIS with original signatures on all forms as would otherwise be done for consular notification, the USCIS will send the duplicate copy to the State Department’s Kentucky Consular Center (KCC) for scanning and entry into the PIMS database. Persons are encouraged to identify the duplicate petition with a brightly-colored cover sheet and to mark on it “Please send this copy to KCC upon approval.” Therefore, if there is any chance that the beneficiary will need to obtain a visa at a US embassy or consulate after a change, extension, or petition amendment, it is advisable to file a duplicate petition set with original signatures on the forms."