Change of processing center

[TxBrian 0]

Back history: i am us citizen by birth got married in june 2019 overseas.  I used to visit my wife 6 to 8 times a year but after we got married I had to change jobs and now find it difficult to travel.  Our marriage certificate was delayed 5 months til nov. 

 

Filed i130a and 130 dec 2nd.  Noc 1 dec 7 but it got sent to nebraska?!.  I live in texas literally 10 miles from the dallas lockbox and facility.  I looked at the processing time and it's more than double the texas processing times.  I called into the uscis service dept and they informed me I could request a change in processing center.  I feel like that is a "you can request but we will just ignore " thing.  I sent i129f for k3 to dallas office mid Jan.  Their processing time for i129f is 3.5 to 6 months... Nebraska is 12 to 16 months.  I never recieved anything for the transfer request.  What is the likelyhood of getting k3 or change of facility?  I have no idea why it was sent to nebraska when I live in texas... is this normal?

 

Going 2 years without living together after just getting married is unthinkable.   

[Crazy Cat 41,845]

The service center for your petition has nothing to do with geographic location of where you live.  Service centers are assigned based on work load across their system.  Your K-3 129F will be closed administratively, and will proceed as a Cr-1/IR-1.  I'm surprised USCIS told you could request a change....don't you think everyone would request a service center with shorter waiting if it was possible?.  They just don't transfer based on customer requests....although your petition might be transferred to reduce the workload at Nebraska.

Edited February 9, 2020 by missileman

[TxBrian 0]

I read somewhere that it was based on your location on where you send to the lockbox.  Maybe I'm wrong but if it was balanced workload why is California 2 plus years and nebraska right behind them but dallas and Potomac is 5 to 7 months?  Sorry I'm just trying to get this to make sense but it's the govt and nothing makes sense.  

 

I filed for k3 because the processing for both locations was much faster.  In Hope's if they would be processed seperately and whichever got finished first wins.  If waiting 2 years... I might have to move overseas.  

 

I found maybe an older article that said you can request a change and there was a form and letter template for doing so.  Has anyone heard of that working before? I'm looking for a reasonable wait time not 2 years for a visa thru Nebraska.  

[Crazy Cat 41,845]

7 minutes ago, TxBrian said:

I read somewhere that it was based on your location on where you send to the lockbox.  Maybe I'm wrong but if it was balanced workload why is California 2 plus years and nebraska right behind them but dallas and Potomac is 5 to 7 months?  Sorry I'm just trying to get this to make sense but it's the govt and nothing makes sense.  

 

I filed for k3 because the processing for both locations was much faster.  In Hope's if they would be processed seperately and whichever got finished first wins.  If waiting 2 years... I might have to move overseas.  

 

I found maybe an older article that said you can request a change and there was a form and letter template for doing so.  Has anyone heard of that working before? I'm looking for a reasonable wait time not 2 years for a visa thru Nebraska.  

K-3 visas are dead.  There were less than a half dozen issued in each of the last 2 years.  This year, there will likely be none......Certainly, you can request a service center change (or anything else), but I have never heard of even one request being honored.  Nothing in immigration is fast, fun, or convenient.  The immigration process demands a great deal of knowledge, planning, time, patience, and money.......

Edited February 9, 2020 by missileman

[Just Paul 4,595]

25 minutes ago, TxBrian said:

Maybe I'm wrong but if it was balanced workload why is California 2 plus years

California only handles I-130s for LPRs.

 

No real logic as to why Nebraska is longer than Texas or Potomac. 

 

48 minutes ago, TxBrian said:

Going 2 years without living together after just getting married is unthinkable. 

Didn't you know that before starting?  Spending time apart is pretty normal in immigration unless the petitioner is willing to move. 

[geowrian 22,337]

52 minutes ago, TxBrian said:

I read somewhere that it was based on your location on where you send to the lockbox.  Maybe I'm wrong but if it was balanced workload why is California 2 plus years and nebraska right behind them but dallas and Potomac is 5 to 7 months?  Sorry I'm just trying to get this to make sense but it's the govt and nothing makes sense.

Some types of petitions and applications may depend on where you are located. I-130s, at least as far back as I can recall, were not based on your location.

 

California handles family preference cases. Those take years to process as there is no need to process them sooner due to Priority Dates and visa availability in those categories (they are limited per year by law). Processing them faster would do no good in most cases, and could actually be worse in the event of children that may age out.

 

I don’t kNow the exact logic of why one SC gets more of a load than another. But that’s the way it is. But ignore CSC if you are a USC filing for an immediate relative. Also, VSC tends to handle more complex cases, so those timelines may be atypical as well.

 

52 minutes ago, TxBrian said:

I filed for k3 because the processing for both locations was much faster.  In Hope's if they would be processed seperately and whichever got finished first wins.  If waiting 2 years... I might have to move overseas.

As others noted, the K-3 is effectively dead. Only 5 were issued last year, of which 4 were through CDJ (Mexico). The K-3 is a relic from when CR/IRs were taking 2-3+ years to process.

 

52 minutes ago, TxBrian said:

I found maybe an older article that said you can request a change and there was a form and letter template for doing so.  Has anyone heard of that working before? I'm looking for a reasonable wait time not 2 years for a visa thru Nebraska.  

I’ve never seen it work. Otherwise everybody would be doing so.

 

You can request anything you want. No harm. But there is no basis to accommodate that request.

[NikLR 13,227]

Once upon a time in 2012, vermont handled all east coast petitions and California handled all west coast petitions.  And then the storm of everything happened (the national benefits center.)  They were supposed to take on ALL of the I-130s but were severely overwhelmed.  They sent out the I-130s to various local offices so some people were approved in days, and others over a year (looking at you Atlanta...) Apparently that wasn't a good idea so they managed to move everything around a little and they still do a balancing act on service centers. 

Your I-129F will eventually end up with your I-130, likely when it's approved and closed since the I-129F is still a physical form and the I-130 has turned digital.  Ive never heard nor seen anyone request a form moved from point a to point b.