The Petition Information Management Service (PIMS) is a report available within the Consolidated Consular Database (CCD), which was set up by the Department of State (DOS) in 2007 to provide consular posts with official inter-agency notification of approvals for H-1B, L, O, P and Q classification petitions. The program also permits DOS to provide additional information regarding a petition, the petitioner, and the beneficiary. PIMS was created also to end consular posts' reliance on paper USCIS approval notices supplied by visa applicants, which were subject to fabrication and alteration, and to enhance fraud detection. PIMS is intended to be the primary source of evidence to be used in determining petition approval in cases such as H-1B, L, O, P and Q

The PIMS Petition Report contains records of all petition approvals since 2004, except where the requested action was a change of status or extension of stay, and amended petitions. However, starting in March, 2008, those types of petitions are being forwarded for entry into PIMS if the petitioner submits an originally signed duplicate petition, with all attachments and exhibits, in addition to its original application. AILA recommends that petitioners include a separate cover sheet for the duplicate petition on which the petitioner should write in big bold letters "Duplicate original - Please forward approval to KCC for entry in PIMS."

Despite this new policy, petitions of these types approved prior to late March 2008, or where the petitioner failed to submit a duplicate original, will have not been entered in PIMS and thus may result in delays while petition verification is conducted by email instead of through PIMS. Petition verification by email should take about 2 working days, but could take longer due to other factors.

Additionally, it is no longer required that a beneficiary take the original I-797A or B Notice of Approval to the visa interview since an application cannot be approved anymore without positive approval confirmation in the CCD.

For more information, see AILA InfoNet Doc. No. 08081564 (posted Aug. 15, 2008) at http://aila.org/.