Message adapted from USCIS Stakeholder Communication, 04/28/2016
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services recognizes that some
cases are taking longer to complete than usual and apologize for any
inconvenience that this may have caused. Current personnel resources do not
align with the present caseload, but they are working to address the staffing
shortages and workload issues that are causing the delays.
USCIS continually reviews their workload capacity at each service center
and, based on their findings, redistribute the work among the service centers.
This type of planning allows USCIS to maximize their resources and minimize any
delays when work is transferred. USCIS has recently transferred cases between
all of the service centers, including their newest center, the Potomac Service
Center. This work includes all recently filed Forms I-765, Application for
Employment Authorization, submitted by F-1 and M-1 students for Optional
Practical Training. For more details, you can visit the workload transfer updates page.
While this may not reduce wait times immediately, USCIS hopes you will see
improvement over the next few months. Transferring cases will assist with backlog
reduction, ensure processing times are consistent across service centers, and
provide customers and stakeholders with faster responses.
Here is what you need to know if your case is transferred to another center
for action:
- Your case will be worked based on the processing times
of the receiving center
- All notices and requests will come from the new center
- Please notify USCIS any time you change your address
- If you receive notice that your Green Card has been approved,
please wait 120 days to receive it in the mail
Customers can access current processing times on the USCIS website at https://egov.uscis.gov/cris/processTimesDisplayInit.do.
USCIS encourages you to sign up for an account with Case Status Online to
get an email or text notification when there is an update to your status,
including when your Green Card is mailed. They also encourage you to keep your
address up to date to ensure that your card is delivered to your most current
physical address. You can update your mailing address online at www.uscis.gov/changeaddress.
