U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has directed the Texas Service Center (TSC) and Nebraska Service Center (NSC) to stop adjudication of all Employment-Based (EB) Form I-485, Application for Adjustment of Status cases with the exception of the 4th preference petitions (religious workers, special immigrant juveniles, etc.). USCIS is reallocating officers, resources, and all other EB visas including EB-3 and EB-2 to Form I-140 adjudications and backlog elimination. Cases will be transferred to the National Benefits Center (NBC). NBC will add EB Forms I-485 to their existing EB workload, prioritizing applications for each immigrant visa as are immediately available. Applicants whose cases are transferred out to TSC and NSC will receive transfer notice updating them of the new location for their case.

This process has already begun with some applicants receiving transfer notices. NBC has informally confirmed that approximately a thousand cases per week have already started the transfer from TSC and NSC to NBC. NSC management has not provided a timeframe for how quickly individual cases will be transferred to NBC, but they informally indicated that approximately a thousand cases per week are already being sent and that the number is expected to rise sharply. This is a long-term jurisdictional change directed by USCIS to eliminate the delay we see in these two service centers.

Adjustment of Status (AOS) applications that are already with an officer at TSC and NSC will remain in those offices. Request for Evidence (RFE) that were issued by those offices will be adjudicated there and may relocate to either NBC or the local field office. For AOS applications filed together with the I-140, Petition for Immigrant Worker, the AOS will be relocated upon the approval of the I-140 when a visa is available.

AOS cases transferred to NBC will be relocated to the field office for final adjudication, as previously done. If USCIS deems an interview to be unnecessary and waived the interview or the local office has previously completed an interview, then NBC will complete the final adjudication of the case. USCIS emphasizes that their top priority is the adjudication and utilization of the significant number of visas available under the Fiscal Year 2022 for Employment-Based AOS applications.

This is exciting news for applicants. In the report published by USCIS at the beginning of March 2022, on its performance data in the first quarter of the fiscal year 2022 (October 1, 2021, through December 31, 2021), the Texas Service Center only approved 3,232 applications, with 97,128 more still pending. The Nebraska Service Center only approved 3,296 applications, leaving 89,580 applications still pending. These two service centers were processing 1,000 applications per month in the first quarter; therefore, this is a promising approach from USCIS in avoiding wasting available visas. We hope to see significant numbers being adjudicated and the success of this recent change show greater resolution in the third and fourth-quarter reports.

If you have questions regarding your Employment-Based I-485 application or any other immigration-related issue, please contact us. We put our extensive experience and expertise to work for you to ensure you get the right advice.

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