I've been getting so many emails with concerned people that are saying, I got a notice from
USCIS, they transferred my case, what do I do? How is it going to impact my case?”
Well, in this video, I'll talk about why USCIS is now transferring cases between different
service centers, and how it's going to impact your case. I'll see you on the other side.
Hello, everybody. In this video, we'll talk about cases being transferred between different
service centers by USCIS. This is something that started happening in the past month or
so. We'll talk about why it's happening and how it's going to impact your case. We get
so many people that posted comments on our previous videos, send me emails, text messages
on social media just trying to figure out what do I do now that I received this transfer
notice and how it's going to impact my case. So, we'll talk about all this in this video.
My name is Jacob Sapochnick, and I am I'm an immigration attorney located in San Diego,
California. And we process cases and help clients in all 50 states. If you’re here
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know that information. So, let's talk about cases being transferred. So, in the past month
or so, while the USCIS offices have been closed to the public, clients started receiving more
and more notices of cases being transferred. So, it's a notice that says, “Your case
is being transferred.” And if the case was in one service center, now it's moving to
a different service center. So, in the beginning, obviously, it's a very alarming and scary
thing to receive a notice that your case has been transferred. And clients have a lot of
questions, how it's going to impact the processing of their cases. So, first of all, USCIS did
release some notices explaining that they are going to be transferring some cases. And
the reason they're doing that is because they want to increase efficiency now that their
offices have been closed for so long, some areas, some offices experiencing more backlogs
than others. And so, the first reason why they’re doing this is they want to increase
efficiency and make sure that people that are waiting too long for their cases are not
going to wait that long. And therefore, they're moving it into a processing center where maybe
they have less work and make this process more efficient. So, the initial cases that
were being transferred, that we received notices, and I could report what's happening in our
office, and I know that it's reflecting also what's happening out there as well. So, the
first cases were probably sometime beginning of April, continue through even now where
I-130s, marriage petition, Adjustment of Status, 45 cases as well. So, let's talk about what
happens when your case is actually transferred. So, when your case is actually transferred,
it shouldn't cause any major hurdles or disruptions to your case. The receipt number is going
to stay the same, you're going to be able to enquire with the new service center where
your case is being sent to. Whatever the… on the transfer notice, you're going to receive
notifications as to where your case is located, as well as the phone number. And you'll see
that the case number is still the same. You should be able to inquire with the new location
where your case is being transferred. That's important to know. If the case that is transferred
is a work visa like an H1B or an O1 visa, then if you want to upgrade the case to a
premium processing, you'll need to do that with the new service center where your case
is being processed. Another important thing to remember. Now, remember, when your case
is moved to a different office, you're going to receive a notice that, first of all, your
case has moved. And also, in some of these notices, it also tells you why your case has
moved. So let's look at some of the reasons why the case could move. In some cases, the
regulations require the petition to be moved to another jurisdiction to another service
center for them to take a particular action. Maybe make an inquiry on the case, some sort
of, maybe they have some information that requires more investigation. So, those are
kind of more rare instances but it can happen. Another reason which is more common is that
a supervisor in the original jurisdiction required this case to move to another jurisdiction
because they have too much workload in the original jurisdiction. So, that's kind of
probably the most common reason why cases have been moved. They have too much workload
in location one and they have to move it to another location to help them speed up the
process. Sometimes, a petition requires an interview so they'll move it from the service
center to a local office to initiate an interview. Again, that's something that… that's not
the main reason why a lot of the cases are being moved right now but it could be also
a reason where they were [inaudible] an interview or inquire something in the local office,
they'll move it from a service center to a local office. If they find out that a petitioner
has moved to a different location, to a different jurisdiction, and an AR-11 is filed to update
the immigration on the new change of location, they will automatically reschedule an interview
if there is an interview and move the case to a different jurisdiction because the person
has moved as well. So again, that's another common reason why a case will be transferred.
And sometimes, people file a petition in the wrong jurisdiction or in the wrong location.
So, if they receive a petition in one location, let's say you send it to the wrong service
center, they will automatically transfer it to the correct service center and will send
you a notification that the case has moved. But currently, the reason why most of these
petitions are being transferred is because of backlog work, and they want to make sure
that cases are going to be moved in a faster way, and therefore, they’re trying to find
the best locations to move those cases faster. The bottom line is that if your case is being
transferred, do not panic, it's not a bad thing. Most likely, they're doing it to try
to speed up the process and make the processing of your application to be even more smooth.
You can always inquire on your case by checking the case number and calling the USCIS, the
same way you would do normally. Just make sure, if you address anything in writing,
make sure you send it to the new service center that is processing your case. So, to conclude
this, if your case is moved to another service location service center, there is no need
to panic. Most likely it's because they have too much of a backlog and they're trying to
move it to a location that they can streamline the processing of your case. And again, if
you moved to a different location, most likely that triggered an automatic request for a
case transfer. But right now, the most common reason why cases are being transferred is
because they're trying to streamline their system, now that they're being reopening,
and they're trying to process the applications in a much more efficient manner. So, do not
panic. I know a lot of you have been asking me those questions and sending me the copies
of their transfer notices, do not worry about that. Those are going to be resolved in a
much more speedy manner, hopefully, now that they’ve transferred them. And again, some
of the most common cases that are being transferred, are I-130s, I-45s, we have quite a few I-129s
that are working on H1B cases, and O1 work visa petitions, and as well, of course, I-751s
petitions to remove conditions. Quite a few of those have been moved between different
service centers. So, do not worry. If you have any of these petitions, it's a normal
thing right now. They are changing locations just to speed up processing, and it's not
going to impact your case at all. If you do have any questions, make sure you post it
in the comments below. And again, if you’re here for the first time, make sure you subscribe
to our channel so you're not going to miss any of these videos because we keep updating
you every single week. And finally, we have a private Facebook group that I want to invite
you personally to join, where we can continue the discussion and I can keep updating you
about changes like this and answer your questions because this video is based on many, many
questions that came in my group and I wanted to make a video on this. So, please subscribe
and join the group. The link is in the description of this video. So once again, thanks for watching,
and I'll see you in our next video.