What does "transferred" mean?

[SaysWho 3]

Hello and happy Tuesday!! lol

I have just filed for AOS and EAD earlier in September and have read several threads on this forum where people talk about files being "transferred" during the process. I get the sense that this doesn't happen to all AOS files, and that people usually seem happy when this happens. Can someone tell me what this means? Where do some files get transferred to? Why only some? Is this really a good thing?

Thanks for any light you can shed on this for me!

Annie

[Shakil 4]

Transferred means your papers are compiled in a certain format and your case is being forwarded to another office for adjudication/decision. Now-a-days, you send all your documents along with the actual petition to a Lockbox, in this case Chicago Lockbox. Lockbox doesn't do anything other than to create a record in their system and assign it a case number / receipt number. Case stays in the National Benefits Center until it is processed or transferred to a service center, CSC or VSC for processing. If an office in the service center thinks that an interview is needed, he/she forwards your case to your local office which then assumes jurisdiction over the case. By jurisdiction, I mean, authority to adjudicate the case.

[YGandMAT 0]

Transferred means your papers are compiled in a certain format and your case is being forwarded to another office for adjudication/decision. Now-a-days, you send all your documents along with the actual petition to a Lockbox, in this case Chicago Lockbox. Lockbox doesn't do anything other than to create a record in their system and assign it a case number / receipt number. Case stays in the National Benefits Center until it is processed or transferred to a service center, CSC or VSC for processing. If an office in the service center thinks that an interview is needed, he/she forwards your case to your local office which then assumes jurisdiction over the case. By jurisdiction, I mean, authority to adjudicate the case.

Since your case was already tranferred, you will not need an interview for your AOS. You will just receive an approval notice and then your green card.

In our case, we were never transferred and an interview was set. After the interview, we got the green card in 11 days.

[SaysWho 3]

Thanks for the replies!

So, if a file has been transferred it means you won't have an interview? they will just process the file and approve (or not) based on the documents submitted?

(Our file has not been transferred, I have just been reading about others that have been, and had no idea why or what it meant.)

[Shakil 4]

I really varies on case to case basis. Recently, people who have been transferred to CSC from National Benefits Center got approved rather than getting called in for an interview but in a lot of cases, files get transferred from CSC to local offices as well for interview.

[MissStacey 1]

My AOS case was transferred to California and sat there for quite a while. I had hoped that I would be approved with no interview- but it was sent to my local office and we were interviewed.

[Eric-Pris 1,607]

There are several reasons they may "transfer" you file to another office. If your local offfice is really backed up, and you have already been interviewed (k-1 visa, for example), they may transfer you to CSC (California Service Center) to be approved without an interview to speed things up. If they later decide for any reason that you should be interviewed, they will transfer your case back to NBC, and then onto your local office for interview. But usually once you get transferred to CSC, you get approved in 3-4 months without an interview.

Usually, only k-visa holders are transferred. Nobody knows why or how they select who gets transferred, so it's just the luck of the draw.