alejandreska

Case Transfers
Current as of July 2013.

Many posts are being made about transfers, and what these emails/notifications mean.
(I dropped a post in the K1 Forum but it has to do with Service Centers, so I'll post one here too)

If you filed a K-1 petition received a notice that looked like one of the following, your case has been transferred to another Service Center.... NOT your local office. Local offices do not process I-129F petitions. The method of transfers applies to all case types, however whether it was transferred to your local office depends on your case type. You should receive an Notice Of Action Transfer (NoA-T) in the mail telling you where your file was transferred within two weeks of the electronic notification or case update on the USCIS website.
This transfer is usually a good thing. A transfer will occur when a Service Center is backlogged and cannot keep up with the influx of petitions, so they transfer the backlogged cases to another service center so those people can be processed in a timely manner. If you were told you have to wait another 180 days -- this is incorrect. Many Tier 1 Immigration Officers (the first people you talk to when you call the customer service number) are given a script to read from, which more often than not contains misinformation. They do not have access to any information that you, yourself cannot find online by either checking your case status or what is available on the USCIS website. Your case will be processed by receipt date, at the speed of the adjudicator processing it, and influenced by the complexity of the case.
In many cases there will be three notifications when a case is transferred.


The first notification will contain something like this:

This means that USCIS has sent your electronic file to the other office. Every time your file is handled by someone they have to scan it (to track where it is and who last handled it so they know who is responsible if anything come back with an issue), when they scan it if there are updates regarding your case (transfer, RFE, typographical error, inquiry, etc) there will be an accompanying message.


The second notification will typically be a few hours after and will contain something like this:

This means that USCIS has mailed your physical file to the Service Center that will be processing your case moving forward.


The third notification will be about a week later and will contain something like this:

This means the Service Center that is processing your file has received the physical file and will begin processing once the adjudicator picks up the batch (based on received date).

Within a week you should receive an NoA-T in the mail, which will look like this (private information has been supplemented by sample info):



What does this mean for me?
This means that for most straight forward cases you may see your NoA2 or an RFE within a month or two. If your case is not straight forward or your case got flagged, it may take longer. Keep in mind every case is different. If you are outside the standard processing times you should contact the USCIS Customer Service line and ask to speak to a Tier 2 Immigration Officer. You should make sure your case wasn't lost in the shuffle, and that it is being worked on. Find out if you missed any notifications or if there is something that you can do to help move it along. Some immigration officers can be quite rude, so always remember to be as polite as possible. These people are overloaded with work and they're just people too. Be clear, concise, and to the point. They are busy people and their time is valuable.

So I can expect to get approved in a month or two?
This is the United States Government. Nothing is a guarantee. You might hear back in a month or two... You might not. It might be an approval, it might be an RFE, it might even be a denial. A lot of cases which were transferred in the past from the VSC to the TSC were adjudicated within 4-6 weeks. Follow the forum posts stay alert, and watch the progress of people within your Service Center to get an idea of what is going on. The speed of who is getting their cases adjudicated has to do with the complexity of the case, whether you're beneficiary is in a high fraud risk country, and the speed in which the adjudicator themselves work.

I am a <Month> filer from that Service Center and I didn't get transferred, should I be worried?
No. The Service centers tend to transfer people in batches. Your case may have already been assigned to someone, or they transferred files between X date and X date, and your file was not within that range. Many times when the files are transferred approvals from both service centers are soon to follow. Don't worry until you're outside of the standard processing time. You can see when your case was last touched, and if it was touched prior to the transfers, chances are you were already assigned.

How do I check to see if my case was "touched"?
If you haven't created an account on the USCIS website you can do so here. If you have you can log into your profile from here (make sure you choose "Customer" for the user type). Once you're logged in you'll see a page that resembles the image below. The "last updated" date shown below is the last time your file has been "touched".



How do you know what the messages mean regarding the electronic and physical files? Nothing in the messages indicates this.
I called a Tier 2 Officer and asked him to explain the transfer process. He explained that for transfers the first email you get is the electronic notification, the second was the actual mailing of the physical files and the third was when the Service Center your files are being transferred to has received the physical files.

So many people are getting transferred, or will be very soon. As of now, I don't know where my wife's application is being routed to. I will find out in a few days. My email and text was not specific, it stated:
On March 7, 2014, we transferred this case I130 IMMIGRANT PETITION FOR RELATIVE, FIANCE(E), OR ORPHAN to another office for processing and sent you a notice explaining this action.
Now does that mean that the transfer is going to one of the four service centers (California, Vermont, Nebraska or Texas) or to a local field office (i.e. in/near my State)? I am thinking to a Service Center, correct?
Included below are the processing times for each Service Center from the USCIS web site (All dates are based on data as of 31 Dec 2013. I thought they updated this data reference monthly, or is it quarterly? The data from Dec 2013 is over 2 months old). For the local field offices, all i could find was volume (Cases in/cases processed. No actual processing times).
National Average: 8.3 months
California: 7.1 months
National Benefits Center: 9.0 months
Nebraska: 9.0 months
Texas: 8.1 months
Vermont: 9.0 months
I believe that the processing times are dropping drastically from what I have been able to read on other timelines, signature lines and data included below. It seems that once a case is transferred that it takes 2 weeks to 2.5 months for a NOA2 to be received. California is a monster, processing them faster than anyone other facility (est. average being 2 to 4 weeks).
General Observations from the accumulated monthly VJ charts:
July...Most were transferred to California and approved within two months or less. 75% approved
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AqbNd1-VjCT-dDhTSDFVcGJOSE5tMmR5dkRYUk9mYUE&usp=sharing#gid=0
August...80% were sent to California and the average approval time was 13 days!
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AsvZPBxJt8H4dDdiM2tUS0ZsTGhtbGxSN05uUGF5WGc#gid=0
September...Pretty evenly split between service centers, with Calif. getting the lions share (32%). Approvals are just starting to happen. Most of these were transferred at the end of February and the beginning of March ( just the past few weeks, 24Feb to 7 March) and they already have 16% approved!
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0ArFCcHLV9HyydE1UZkNVM0RGY0x1ejRmY1J4TEFLM3c#gid=0
I think that CIS is on a roll...that some pressure has been applied from up above and these things are starting to fly. Honestly? I think we (October filers) start seeing a fair amount of approvals (post transfer) in the next 3 to 6 weeks! (I hope, I hope, I hope).
If anyone can add more data/facts/educated comments, please do!
I called my wife in Colombia last night and woke her up. This morning she was very excited, but also a little scared. She said "A new country. A new language. A new culture" She has never been here. I was telling her I can't wait until she is here so I can make her breakfast. She told me that she has never had pancakes. I can't wait to make her pancakes for breakfast.
Can't you see that it's just raining? Ain't no need to go outside... But, baby, you hardly even notice When I try to show you this Song is meant to keep you From doing what you're supposed to. Waking up too early Maybe we can sleep in Make you banana pancakes Pretend like it's the weekend now - Jack Johnson Banana Pancakes

I just signed it. Hope it can make a difference sometime!!