Where to send uscis papers?

[Azagarth 0]

So I just got married 2 weeks ago and will be starting my wife's immigrant visa soon..... Looking forward to the 1 year ish process....

Anyhow I meet her in Argentina on a turorist visa and we got married. I can't stomach the thought of not living with her for the next year, so I decided to get my permanent residency here for the time being and live with her here in Argentina until she gets her visa to immigrate.... That was a hard decision for sure.

When I read online where to send the papers there are only two places, the Phoenix and Chicago lockbox sim told. I lived in Utah before coming to Argentina but my now permanent address is with my moms house in California. Both of those correspond to Phoenix. However I'm technically living here in Argentina right now as a tourist, which from my understanding all international applicants send to the Chicago lockbox.

I'm really confused of which place to mail my papers for the uscis process. Which area would I correspond?

Second random question in case anyone knows. If I apply for permanent residency here in Argentina will that be a negative effect on my wife's visa process?

[laje 2]

I overseas filers should use the Chicago lockbox,

[NikLR 13,220]

1) if you are not currently domiciled in Argentina, then you would mail to where your permanent address dictates. However if you are actively pursuing permanent residence there, then yes you can mail to the chicago lockbox.

2) no it will not affect the process

[Azagarth 0]

Is there a benefit to one box over the other, like in terms of speed?

[NikLR 13,220]

For the lockbox? No. If you live in Argentina and happen to get sent to the California Service Center then you may be auto-expedited. But it's a chance.

[Azagarth 0]

Maybe it's a stupid question but can you chose for all the papers to be sent to be expedited? Or is it just a luck thing? Also after being sent to the lockbox is it just luck to which service center it's sent to?

[Ryan H 3,790]

Maybe it's a stupid question but can you chose for all the papers to be sent to be expedited? Or is it just a luck thing? Also after being sent to the lockbox is it just luck to which service center it's sent to?

You won't know which service center your petition will go to until after you are informed of which center it was sent to from the lockbox. If your petition does not enter the "auto-expedite" queue (BTW, USCIS will deny this queue exists), then you would have to request an expedite and expedite requests are only granted if the request meets the defined criteria.