F2A Transferred from CSC to PSC. Approved 23 days after transferred

[WilliamHTX 4]

Hey guys! I just want to share some information that I personally had difficulty to find across the web: What happens when your case is being transferred? (Note: YMMV)

I am a LPR and I petitioned my wife for GC application based on marriage. Our case was originally processed at California Service Center (CSC). (Case was received late April, 2019) We were religious in checking the processing time on USCIS website even knowing that the time listed may not be accurate at times. We were hoping that the processing time will become shorter since there was trend lately.

 

Then... our case was transferred to Potomac Service Center (PSC) on Feb 19, 2020. The listed processing time for I-130 for F2A was way longer than CSC. (CSC: 8.5 - 11 months; PSC: 26.5 - 34.5 months) We were scratching our heads... wondering, "If they are doing workload balancing, why would cases be transferred from CSC to PSC?" We were both quite discouraged at the time.

I was trying to search online to see if anyone sharing similar experience while their case was being transferred and what could happen afterwards. Either I didn't search the right thing or there wasn't any good info out there. The only thing I saw was on VisaJourney where a limited amount of applicants got their cases transferred and then got approved in about 2 months. I tried to calm ourselves with this little trace of evidence, hoping for the best.

 

Last night, as I was driving home from the airport, I got a notification text from USCIS saying that there was an update on my case. I was mentally preparing for the worst: RFE. Since I was driving, I told my wife to check it. She screamed ecstatically after she saw the screen. IT WAS APPROVED!

 

Lesson learned: Case transferring seems to be a good news instead of a bad news. Don't freak out.

 

I hope this sharing could help relieve some of your worries.

 

[Koke 2]

3 hours ago, WilliamHTX said:

Hey guys! I just want to share some information that I personally had difficulty to find across the web: What happens when your case is being transferred? (Note: YMMV)

I am a LPR and I petitioned my wife for GC application based on marriage. Our case was originally processed at California Service Center (CSC). (Case was received late April, 2019) We were religious in checking the processing time on USCIS website even knowing that the time listed may not be accurate at times. We were hoping that the processing time will become shorter since there was trend lately.

 

Then... our case was transferred to Potomac Service Center (PSC) on Feb 19, 2020. The listed processing time for I-130 for F2A was way longer than CSC. (CSC: 8.5 - 11 months; PSC: 26.5 - 34.5 months) We were scratching our heads... wondering, "If they are doing workload balancing, why would cases be transferred from CSC to PSC?" We were both quite discouraged at the time.

I was trying to search online to see if anyone sharing similar experience while their case was being transferred and what could happen afterwards. Either I didn't search the right thing or there wasn't any good info out there. The only thing I saw was on VisaJourney where a limited amount of applicants got their cases transferred and then got approved in about 2 months. I tried to calm ourselves with this little trace of evidence, hoping for the best.

 

Last night, as I was driving home from the airport, I got a notification text from USCIS saying that there was an update on my case. I was mentally preparing for the worst: RFE. Since I was driving, I told my wife to check it. She screamed ecstatically after she saw the screen. IT WAS APPROVED!

 

Lesson learned: Case transferring seems to be a good news instead of a bad news. Don't freak out.

 

I hope this sharing could help relieve some of your worries.

 

Thanks for sharing your experience. My case got transferred from CSC to Texas. I hope I ear from them very soon.

[lucifertran 7]

Congratulation 🥳

And thank you so much for sharing your case.

Mine was transfered on the same date like you to PSC 02/19, PD date also late Apr, 04/23

 

Just submit an inquiry on USCIS website, and the expected repsonse date is Apr 06 😱.

 

Hope to hear good news soon.

[Sergey S 1]

3 hours ago, lucifertran said:

Congratulation 🥳

And thank you so much for sharing your case.

Mine was transfered on the same date like you to PSC 02/19, PD date also late Apr, 04/23

 

Just submit an inquiry on USCIS website, and the expected repsonse date is Apr 06 😱.

 

Hope to hear good news soon.

Have you read the notice about 60 days time frame before submitting an inquiry? If there was an activity on your case last 60 days (and transfer is actually is) that means that USCIS is working on your case and you should not submit an inquiry. 

[lucifertran 7]

9 hours ago, Sergey S said:

Have you read the notice about 60 days time frame before submitting an inquiry? If there was an activity on your case last 60 days (and transfer is actually is) that means that USCIS is working on your case and you should not submit an inquiry. 

I have never seen such information before. Just base on USCIS case processing time. They stated if the date has passed then you can submit an inquiry. 
 

Why u have to wait? The time for them to response is 3 weeks, what if u wait another 4 weeks, submit inquiry and wait another 3 weeks?

 

in cased your case approved, they just simply send u a duplicate notification. 
I dont think that would be a big deaI.

 

I also consider calling them in the next week

[Sergey S 1]

15 hours ago, lucifertran said:

I have never seen such information before. Just base on USCIS case processing time. They stated if the date has passed then you can submit an inquiry. 
 

Why u have to wait? The time for them to response is 3 weeks, what if u wait another 4 weeks, submit inquiry and wait another 3 weeks?

 

in cased your case approved, they just simply send u a duplicate notification. 
I dont think that would be a big deaI.

 

I also consider calling them in the next week

Once you open "Outside Normal Processing Time" page there is a Note:

NOTE: We are actively processing your case if, in the past 60 days, you:

• Received a notice from us about your case,
• Responded to a request for evidence, OR
• Received an online update to your case status.

 

That's it. Why we have to wait? That's simple. Any request means that USCIS employees would spend their time to process it. And such requests (and you are not alone - too many people thinks that this would not be a big deal) just slow down the whole process. As for the cases that were transferred on Feb 19 - there were over 2000 cases and at the moment they have completed less than 30%. So, there is no single reason for trying push them.  Also keep in mind that due the coronavirus they definitely would reduce the work forces or even shut down for a while. 

[lucifertran 7]

First of all, I already submit the inquiry 😃.

 

Second, they stated that they are actively working on your case, surely a bunch of cases, did they say not to submit an inquiry? Is that wrong to know your case status?

Its just a statement to let u know that your case is being processed, hopefully.

 

Have u ever seen stories that people have to call multiple times for their case to be processed while all other cases around the  same period already have good news?

Btw, where u get the 30% number? Can u tell us until what dates have they processed the cases.

 

[Sergey S 1]

34 minutes ago, lucifertran said:

First of all, I already submit the inquiry 😃.

 

Second, they stated that they are actively working on your case, surely a bunch of cases, did they say not to submit an inquiry? Is that wrong to know your case status?

Its just a statement to let u know that your case is being processed, hopefully.

 

Have u ever seen stories that people have to call multiple times for their case to be processed while all other cases around the  same period already have good news?

Btw, where u get the 30% number? Can u tell us until what dates have they processed the cases.

 

There are a bunch of nervous people who spam USCIS continuously with calls and inquiries.  Did it help in a single case? Of course no. There is no line of processing cases. At the same time the same office may proceed cases that have 2-3 months difference. And they may actively process cases submitted at the end of April 2019 while they still have thousands of not touched cases for February and March. Why they do that in such way? Who knows. If you see that other cases were approved around yours but not yours that means only one thing -  they just have to investigate your case more carefully because of something (missing documents, too complicated, suspicious, etc) and that may take months. As for the cases they are processing right at the moment - mostly 01/2019-06/2019 with focuses on the middle of March, early April and end of May 2019. Have no clue why they have such strange distribution, but can guess that they want to improve their statistics by reducing the average processing time. 

[lucifertran 7]

Why dont u think that the way they process cases was not really effective?

It does not have to be always your fault like your cases mising somthing that make it took longer than others.
 

A single inquiry or a lot of inquiry put no weight to them at all  

They might not care, they just do their job like normal.

Dont u think that u r unneccessarily angry 😀

 

[WilliamHTX 4]

Well... Let me provide more info here so that there is a better apple-to-apple comparison.

 

My wife said the alleged reason that our case got processed so quickly was because of the abundance of evidence. We will never know what exact factor(s) led to the difference in speed but I think it doesn't hurt to take a look on the evidence that I provided.

• Photos of our trips and wedding ceremony (total: 70-80 photos). All photos were labeled with date, location, and relationship of people to us (if there are people other than us in the photo)
• Affidavit of our relationship written by my friend whom is an American citizen
• Receipts of hotels, meals, and expenses when we went on trips together
• Air ticket purchase receipts. (We went to quite a few places before we got married. We went to Denver, Vegas, Chicago, New York, Philly, DC, and Austin)
• Marriage certificate (of course)
• Joint bank account (U.S.) proof

Note: I did not include a phone record for two reasons. First, we called each other on Whatsapp. It's not like a phone bill that can show the phone number. I felt like taking screenshots was not official enough so I didn't send the records. Second, she was here for 5 months in the US prior to our wedding. We didn't need to talk on the phone since she was with me. There wasn't much to show anyways.

 

The approach I adopted was to leave no evidence behind. Since I don't want to get RFE, I submitted everything possible to help them make the decision. Is this the reason I got approved so quickly? No one could ever tell.