USCIS Aims to Decrease Processing Times for N-400 and I-485 [merged threads]

[Lemon23 400]

19 minutes ago, Bill & Katya said:

Personally, I am all for this, and would drive the extra mile if necessary to get my wife her GC or N400.  Hopefully, it does speed things up especially for those in high volume offices.  Overall, my wife was very lucky as Detroit is not so busy and her AOS and N400 processed very quickly, the only thing that took any time was the ROC, but to us that was just a formality since naturalization was the end goal.

 

Saying this, I think the big issue will be how far and where cases will be moved.  I imagine the busiest offices are in very urban areas, and they are all busy, and the slowest ones most likely are in the middle of the country, will those dwelling in NYC, Philly, or LA be happy with a trip to Detroit, or OKC for an interview?

I don't think NYC filers will travel to all of the states that you mentioned, because some NYC applications we're being transferred already in NJ for interview. One example is my coworker who lives in The Bronx but got scheduled for interview in NJ.

[Dashinka 23,382]

39 minutes ago, Lemon23 said:

I don't think NYC filers will travel to all of the states that you mentioned, because some NYC applications we're being transferred already in NJ for interview. One example is my coworker who lives in The Bronx but got scheduled for interview in NJ.

Hopefully, there is enough capacity in offices relatively nearby the busy offices to equalize the workload.

[N400NYC 380]

3 hours ago, Loren Y said:

I couldn't find more than a few movements, even in the article posted just yesterday they say in the first line USCIS will begin to implement the changes. I don't think it has really started. We will see a serious increase in postings when it begins. They will be moving 1000's of cases, and with only a small percentage of people registered here on the forum, we will see hundreds of postings, and I'm sure some actual letters received posted.  I hope it has started, but moving a few hundred even of the over 300,000 plus that need moved doesn't mean a full rollout of this. It's USCIS, look at their track record, nothing is happening fast. I hope I'm wrong and I have an interview notice in my mailbox now saying we need you and your wife in Cleveland tomorrow morning for your AOS interview. I'm on the way to the airport now to catch the red-eye.

I share your willingness to go absolutely anywhere and at a moment's notice!! I would give anything for this entire process to be over today!

 

I agree that a widespread rollout has probably yet to happen but there definitely has been some type of trial of this strategy recently. I just hope that the systematic rollout happens sooner rather than later as people in high-volume/slow-processing areas are suffering a lot currently. 

[Scott001 119]

6 hours ago, N400NYC said:

I was about to say the same thing - I'd fly to Hawaii!!! And yes, there needs to be an evening out of the very uneven wait times across Westchester/NYC/Long Island!

I'd fly to Nebraska if it made it faster 😁 

EDIT: In the winter ⛄

Edited June 18, 2019 by Scott001

[JFH 12,189]

Seattle is one of the slowest N-400 offices so I’m up for a road trip or a flight somewhere. I actually live closer to Portland but Seattle is officially my field office. Portland is faster, at the moment. Would be nice if we could have the option to choose other locations. 

[TheKingmaker 153]

NY to NJ or CT sounds more reasonable. Although if they ask us to go to Guam to interview, we'll make a trip out of it. 😁

 

Anyone else up to go to Guam to interview? 

[HopeHopeHope 3]

Will this make a difference to those who have filed for I-130 from outside the US ? Why isnt USCIS looking into I-130 processing time difference ? 

[Cathi 5,624]

9 hours ago, missileman said:

If one considers that I-751 denials are extremely low, they could easily just eliminate all or most ROC interviews...imo.

We weren't called for ROC interview and I don't think many people are called. Would make sense to eliminate them except in the rare case that fraud is suspected.

 

We lucked out at all stages of our journey as far as wait times go and we never had any RFEs. I feel for people who have encountered long wait times...

Edited June 18, 2019 by Cathi

[PK_ 43]

1 hour ago, JFH said:

Seattle is one of the slowest N-400 offices so I’m up for a road trip or a flight somewhere. I actually live closer to Portland but Seattle is officially my field office. Portland is faster, at the moment. Would be nice if we could have the option to choose other locations. 

There are already a couple of instances that Seattle N-400 cases get transferred to Portland, OR.

See this thread: 

 

[Cheschirecat 176]

5 hours ago, Loren Y said:

I have no problem traveling to the other side of the country to speed up the process, problem is this is still a government operation, so it will take 12-18 months for this to even begin. So anyone that files starting late 2020, or so should see this as a possibility. If it's one thing we all know, nothing with the US government is going to happen quickly, and this is a pretty big change to the process, this isn't a simple form update or change, this is shifting whole applications to different offices. Not to be the neysayer of the group, but don't hold your breath. I hope it starts next week, but that is a fantasy. Time will tell, but I don't think we will see a post for at least a year from now saying I'm in Houston, and have to interview in Cleveland?

I’ve worked  for the fed and they usually have 100 meetings before they roll out any info, so they will need at least 50 more meetings to get started... and with it being vacay time it’s snail city! Folks in the Fed don’t get in any type of hurry! 

[RamonGomez 259]

10 hours ago, missileman said:

Agree......My rationale for eliminating the I-751 interview comes from the fact that in the 1st quarter of FY 2019, a total of 43, 588 I-751s were adjudicated.  Of those only 1287 were denied......that's less than 3%.......if 75% of the denials were ultimately appealed & approved, that pushes the denial rate for I-751s during that quarter to less than 1 %.....

I mean, CBP admits something like 99.95% of visitors... should we abolish them as well? It's a deterrent. 

 

I think those on a K1 should be absolved of ROC , and for the remaining couples, ROC should only be mandatory if the first AOS interview was borderline. And maybe a very small fraction of cases at random (like an IRS audit). My guess is that USCIS can do 5% of the work they do now and still catch 80% of the problems.

Edited June 18, 2019 by RamonGomez

[N400NYC 380]

1 hour ago, TheKingmaker said:

NY to NJ or CT sounds more reasonable. Although if they ask us to go to Guam to interview, we'll make a trip out of it. 😁

 

Anyone else up to go to Guam to interview? 

I'd go tomorrow!!!!!

[N-o-l-a 7,167]

They've been doing this in Minnesota for a few months as well. They opened up regular N-400 interviews in Duluth and Fargo, which had previously only done biometrics (or in Fargo's case, I think someone flown in to do them in bulk). 

 

It ended up being the same distance to the new office, over 5 hours. However, it increased processing time for my husband's case dramatically versus getting an interview/oath at Minneapolis. It'll be 4 weeks since his approval and 16 months since filing soon, with no oath scheduled.

[N400NYC 380]

via Washington Post: U.S. immigration agency to transfer citizenship paperwork from busy offices, hoping to reduce wait times

 

"USCIS said Monday that it would begin transferring caseloads of applicants for citizenship and permanent residency among its various field offices with the aim of reducing the differences in processing times based on geographic locations.”

 

"Though the shift is likely to reduce wait times in some of the busiest places — including St. Paul and Miami — it could lengthen the wait times in others, such as Cleveland and Providence, where applicants typically wait less than six months"

 

"The transfer of caseloads to more-distant field offices in some cases also means that some applicants will have to travel farther to appear for mandatory interviews. That change could disadvantage those without the time and money to make the trips. USCIS said applicants’ travel time will be taken into account in determining the transfer of their cases to other offices."

[AnneA 72]

7 hours ago, afrocraft said:

They could switch to an interview booking system that provides paired options of time-to-interview and travel distance, and let applicants choose. The further the travel distance you choose, the sooner the interview date. Let the market decide.

That would be great. We have similar booking systems in Denmark and everything is digital. However I'm not impressed with the digital system in US that I have met so far ... or rather the lack of it. I have even stopped complain about faults and slowness in the Danish system 😂