Re: N400 Processing Times

[edt370a 3]

I have a couple questions that are related to each other:

(1) When I look up the N400 processing times for Kansas City MO field office on the USCIS website, it shows them still backlogged at Oct 2014 (as updated on May 12, 2015). However, my colleague mailed in his N400 in late Jan 2015 and finished his oath ceremony in early May 2015. So why is the USCIS website still showing the Kansas City office as backlogged since Oct 2014?

(2) Secondly, do N400 processing times vary by the nationality of the applicant? I know that for Green Cards certain nationalities (Indians, Chinese, Filipinos, Mexicans etc.) have to wait for much longer than others due to backlogs caused due to limited quotas of visa numbers for those nationalities. Does that hold true for citizenship as well? (i.e. as a Chinese national would I have to wait longer for N400 processing than someone from e.g. UK or Europe?)

Edited June 1, 2015 by edt370a

[NancyNguyen 1,658]

All rumors, timeline varies due to background check, evidence reviews, file receipt...

[Dario2012 51]

(i.e. as a Chinese national would I have to wait longer for N400 processing than someone from e.g. UK or Europe?)

Based on nationality alone, you do not have to wait longer.

Edited June 1, 2015 by Dario2012

[MaverickN400 2]

1) If you notice on the processing times it notes on the top of "form name" these dates are present as of March 31st. So what we see are not latest but as of march 31st. It kinda makes sense if you relate to march 31st.

2) I personally don't think its based on country however it will depend on various other factors like your name, back ground checking timeline, etc...

just re-read your post again. Your interpretation is right when it comes to green card processing through employment however there is no such quota for family based GCs and Citizenship applications of either kind.

Edited June 1, 2015 by MaverickN400

[JimmyHou 613]

I have a couple questions that are related to each other:

(1) When I look up the N400 processing times for Kansas City MO field office on the USCIS website, it shows them still backlogged at Oct 2014 (as updated on May 12, 2015). However, my colleague mailed in his N400 in late Jan 2015 and finished his oath ceremony in early May 2015. So why is the USCIS website still showing the Kansas City office as backlogged since Oct 2014?

(2) Secondly, do N400 processing times vary by the nationality of the applicant? I know that for Green Cards certain nationalities (Indians, Chinese, Filipinos, Mexicans etc.) have to wait for much longer than others due to backlogs caused due to limited quotas of visa numbers for those nationalities. Does that hold true for citizenship as well? (i.e. as a Chinese national would I have to wait longer for N400 processing than someone from e.g. UK or Europe?)

1-a- The processing times are not updated frequently, so they are often out of date.

1-b- It's not clear what they mean when they say that they are backlogged at Oct 2014. Does that mean that they haven't approved any Nov 2014 applications? I don't think so. I think it might mean that they have some Oct 2014 applications that are still pending. So if they finish all the Sep 2014 applications, and 99% of the Oct 2014 applications, and all the Nov 2014 applications, and all the Dec 2014 applications, the status will still be stuck at Oct 2014 because they are still working on some of those. This is just my theory and I could be wrong, but I think they post the month of the oldest application they are working on.

2-a- Green card nationality limits are in place because there is a not-to-exceed quota of 7% per country in each category of immigrant visa. Indians have to wait longer than Botswanans because India regularly bumps up against that limit in multiple categories whereas Botswana does not. There is no equivalent limit for naturalization.

2-b- Nationality may play a part in other (indirect) ways. For example, the background check includes a name check and some cultures have names that can be spelled in many different ways. A British citizen named George Clark has probably had every travel document issued under the name of George Clark. But an Algerian citizen named Mohamed Hasan Ali may have had former passports, birth certificates, marriage records, court cases, etc. under Mohammed Hassan Aly or any other variation of the name. Additionally, some countries have more unique names than others. A name check for a Vietnamese citizen named Nguyen is going to result in thousands of possible suspicious matches because it is an incredibly common name.

I'd say the biggest factor in how long an application is going to take isn't actually the background check, but the interview scheduling process. The background check is often completed in 48 hours. So it's really your local office that is usually responsible for the speed of the process. Of course there are exceptions, and sometimes people are stuck in the background check stage. There have been several class-action suits against USCIS and the FBI in recent years (some successful) that claimed that certain groups of people were intentionally being denied citizenship... one group of 6 Arab applicants from Michigan were apparently stuck in the background check stage for 6 years. These are very rare cases... tens of cases out of millions of applications... things like this shouldn't happen, but statistically you shouldn't worry about this happening to you.

[edt370a 3]

1-a- The processing times are not updated frequently, so they are often out of date.

1-b- It's not clear what they mean when they say that they are backlogged at Oct 2014. Does that mean that they haven't approved any Nov 2014 applications? I don't think so. I think it might mean that they have some Oct 2014 applications that are still pending. So if they finish all the Sep 2014 applications, and 99% of the Oct 2014 applications, and all the Nov 2014 applications, and all the Dec 2014 applications, the status will still be stuck at Oct 2014 because they are still working on some of those. This is just my theory and I could be wrong, but I think they post the month of the oldest application they are working on.

2-a- Green card nationality limits are in place because there is a not-to-exceed quota of 7% per country in each category of immigrant visa. Indians have to wait longer than Botswanans because India regularly bumps up against that limit in multiple categories whereas Botswana does not. There is no equivalent limit for naturalization.

2-b- Nationality may play a part in other (indirect) ways. For example, the background check includes a name check and some cultures have names that can be spelled in many different ways. A British citizen named George Clark has probably had every travel document issued under the name of George Clark. But an Algerian citizen named Mohamed Hasan Ali may have had former passports, birth certificates, marriage records, court cases, etc. under Mohammed Hassan Aly or any other variation of the name. Additionally, some countries have more unique names than others. A name check for a Vietnamese citizen named Nguyen is going to result in thousands of possible suspicious matches because it is an incredibly common name.

I'd say the biggest factor in how long an application is going to take isn't actually the background check, but the interview scheduling process. The background check is often completed in 48 hours. So it's really your local office that is usually responsible for the speed of the process. Of course there are exceptions, and sometimes people are stuck in the background check stage. There have been several class-action suits against USCIS and the FBI in recent years (some successful) that claimed that certain groups of people were intentionally being denied citizenship... one group of 6 Arab applicants from Michigan were apparently stuck in the background check stage for 6 years. These are very rare cases... tens of cases out of millions of applications... things like this shouldn't happen, but statistically you shouldn't worry about this happening to you.

Thank you Jimmy ... as always you are such a gold-mine of information!!!

[JimmyHou 613]

Thank you Jimmy ... as always you are such a gold-mine of information!!!

You're welcome

Or I just guess a lot and sound convincing.

Edited June 1, 2015 by JimmyHou