I-130 Service Center Discrepancy?

[AYJ 0]

My spouse and I submitted an I-130 application a few days ago and received a receipt notice with the California Service Center written in the bottom left corner. This was odd as our place of residence is in Texas and we assumed our case would be assigned to the Texas Service Center.

 

Then today, we called USCIS and the agent told us our case was actually assigned to the Texas Service Center. This was obviously good news, as they have the shortest processing time out of all service centers but we were a bit puzzled.

 

Is this normal? Has anyone experienced this? Does USCIS put the California Service Center on all receipt notices like this?

[Crazy Cat 41,845]

Place of residence is totally irrelevant as USCIS assigns petitions to service centers based on their workload.  Regardless of which service center a petition is initially assigned to, USCIS can (and does) transfer cases to balance their work load.  Sit back, relax, and practice patience......

[AYJ 0]

5 minutes ago, Lucky Cat said:

Place of residence is totally irrelevant as USCIS assigns petitions to service centers based on their workload.  Regardless of which service center a petition is initially assigned to, USCIS can (and does) transfer cases to balance their work load.  Sit back, relax, and practice patience......

Thanks for the note but I'm not being impatient here, just asking a question

[Crazy Cat 41,845]

13 minutes ago, AYJ said:

Thanks for the note but I'm not being impatient here, just asking a question

Waiting is the hardest part of the immigration process.... for all of us.   My point was that USCIS routinely transfers cases.  This issue is pretty common.  Good luck.

Edited June 30, 2021 by Lucky Cat

[Tatum 1]

We just helped my brother in law fill out the i130 for my sister in law and completed it online. Receipt notice shows California as well which has 22.5-29 months where Texas where we reside is 1 week- 8 months for residents applying for spouse. I don't understand it but hoping ours is transfered to Texas as well. In 2015 when I did this same process for my husband he was in the US 9months after Receipt date. Hoping for thr same for my SIL

[Bochog 10]

Yes. I think they initially assign it to the nearest location, however they often transfer cases depending on the load of other NVC locations.

[Crazy Cat 41,845]

7 minutes ago, Bochog said:

Yes. I think they initially assign it to the nearest location, however they often transfer cases depending on the load of other NVC locations.

Nearest location to what?  That wasn't my experience. 

[Southern_Belle07 146]

On 6/30/2021 at 3:19 PM, AYJ said:

My spouse and I submitted an I-130 application a few days ago and received a receipt notice with the California Service Center written in the bottom left corner. This was odd as our place of residence is in Texas and we assumed our case would be assigned to the Texas Service Center.

 

Then today, we called USCIS and the agent told us our case was actually assigned to the Texas Service Center. This was obviously good news, as they have the shortest processing time out of all service centers but we were a bit puzzled.

 

Is this normal? Has anyone experienced this? Does USCIS put the California Service Center on all receipt notices like this?

Nebraska is the shortest, not Texas. I know this because USCIS transferred my case without telling me from Nebraska to Texas and imagine my major disappointment. I only knew about it when I followed up and chatted with a USCIS agent.