U.S. State Department Extraordinary Assistance 4 Yemen

Fact Sheet

Office of the Spokesperson

Washington, DC

May 6, 2015

---

The protection and safety of U.S. citizens is a top priority for the Department of State. The security situation on the ground in Yemen has limited the ability of many foreign governments to provide direct assistance to their citizens remaining in Yemen and all on-the-ground consular services for U.S. citizens in Yemen continue to be suspended. We are monitoring the situation closely, and are providing regular updates to the U.S. citizen community in Yemen including up-to-date information about opportunities to depart Yemen.

• We are working with U.S. embassies and consulates around the world to assist U.S. citizens and their family members who are leaving Yemen.

• The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service has granted exceptional authority for consular officers worldwide to accept clearly approvable immigrant visa (IV) petitions for spouses, children, and parents of U.S. citizens who have left Yemen and for whom petitions have not yet been filed.

• Cairo and Algiers have been designated as processing posts for Yemeni immigrant visa applicants. Yemeni IV applicants can also request that IV cases be transferred to any IV processing post, and those requests will be granted as resources allow.

• The Department has increased consular staffing at some overseas posts to assist U.S. citizens and adjudicate immigrant visa cases for family members as quickly as possible.

• Many U.S. citizens have arrived in Djibouti with their non-U.S. citizen family members. As of April 28, the U.S. Embassy in Djibouti had assisted more than 500 U.S. citizens arriving from Yemen, plus their family members. The State Department has sent in staff from other embassies in the region and from the United States to assist, and will send additional support as needed.

• The U.S. Government is continually disseminating information about evacuation opportunities to U.S. citizens in Yemen who have contacted us or who were enrolled in our Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP), as well as posting the information on the Embassy Sana’a website and Facebook page, and the Yemen Crisis page on travel.state.gov.

For further information concerning U.S. citizens or their family members in Yemen, please contact the Bureau of Consular Affairs atYemenEmergencyUSC@state.gov

For media inquiries, please contact the Bureau of Consular Affairs’ Press Office at CAPressRequests@state.gov.

Source: U.S. State Department