Anyone know what I-130 case numbers mean?

[speedwell 224]

Someone asked me this: "I know what the MSC is and the 13 is the year but what do the other numbers mean. I read that the next 3 were the day filed after Oct 1..."

OK, here's what I know... Yes, the MSC (or other three letter abbreviation on the NOA1 case number) refers to the service center to which the case is initially assigned. The next two numbers, 12 or 13 for most of us, refer to the FISCAL (not calendar) year in which the case was filed. Fiscal years start on October 1 (which is what the person above was referring to). The next three numbers after the year number don't seem to reflect anything specific though.

My number begins with MSC139009xxxx and my filing date is October 18, 2013. MSC1390090000 is also an I-130 filed October 18. However, MSC1390089890 is also an I-130 filed October 18. The case numbers reflect October 19 filings around MSC1390092500 or so, and continue that way through MSC1390099999 (MSC1390099990 is an I-130 filing on October 19 as well). Some of the I-130s in the spreadsheet I generated on Sunday that had numbers in MSC139009xxxx said they were filed on October 9, and they seemed to be interspersed with case numbers for I-485s (so not standalone I-130s). I think the numbers are just being assigned in the order of processing.

Does anyone know more?

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

Supposedly the next 3 numbers after the year are supposed to indicated the business day of the fiscal year, but I don't think it seems to work based on the pattern.

Mine is MSC139018XXXX and I'm a November 8th. For the November 7 and 8s, it seems to have no numeric bearing as some of them are numerically before the others.

99% of the ones I've seen in the MSC139018XXXX have NOA1s of November 7th or 8th, except for a few intermixed October ones. I have absolutely no clue why those have different dates, unless someone in a mail room found a stack of them sitting around or something.

Sometimes people don't filed the I-485s and I-130s at the same time, so maybe they were matched with an earlier one to make a pair?

In the stacks after they seem to come in clumps of I-130s, I-90 replacements, rejected apps, AOS, etc.

Edited January 9, 2013 by Nola123

[The Mean Lady 604]

Someone posted a thread about this last month, I believe, and stated what the numbers were supposed to mean.

However, that meaning didn't make sense for a lot of us. I included, I remember that part.