You may have noticed that USCIS has transferred some work from its four service centers (in Vermont, Nebraska, Texas and California) to field offices and the National Benefits Center (NBC). The changes are being made in order to balance the agency’s overall workload with its processing capacity. The chart below summarizes these changes.
|
Form Type |
Effective Date |
Previous Location |
New Location |
|
Aug. 15, 2012 |
NSC |
NBC |
|
|
Stand-Alone Immediate Relative (IR) I-130, Petition for Alien Relative |
Aug. 15, 2012 |
all USCIS service centers |
Field Office with jurisdiction over the petitioner’s place of residence. |
|
Interview-Waivable Family-Based I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status |
Aug. 1, 2012 |
CSC |
NBC |
USCIS is implementing these changes using a “date-forward” approach, meaning that any work received before the effective date indicated above will be completed by the previous location. Work received on or after the effective date will be completed by the new location.
As a result of these changes, customers may receive transfer notices, request for evidence (RFE) notices, notices of decision, or other correspondence from a different USCIS location than usual.
Stand-alone immediate relative I-130s will be transferred from the service center to the National Benefits Center (NBC), and then routed to the appropriate field office. Customers will receive a notice indicating the case was transferred to the NBC, but that notice will not indicate the final local field office location.
The filing location for these forms will not change. Please continue to file the forms at the address noted on the form instructions and on the forms website on uscis.gov.