As part of an ongoing effort to improve the quality and efficiency of customer service delivery, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) periodically shifts benefit processing work from one agency service center to another, in order to balance the overall workload with processing capacity.

• Form I-129: Due to unusually high workload surges over the past three months, the Vermont Service Center (VSC) transferred nearly 20,000 H-1B petitions subject to the FY 2007 annual numerical cap to the Texas Service Center (TSC) and 6,000 cap-subject H-1B petitions to the Nebraska Service Center (NSC) rather than to its “sister” service center under USCIS’ bi-specialization initiative, the California Service Center (CSC).
• Form I-360: The VSC, TSC, and NSC, transferred all of their pending Forms I-360, Petition for Amerasian, Widow(er), or Special Immigrant, requesting classification as a special immigrant religious worker, to the CSC. In addition, all new Form I-360 religious worker filings received at a Service Center other than the CSC are being transferred to the CSC.
• Form I-130: Over the past 3 months, the VSC transferred approximately 20,000 Forms I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, to the CSC.

Affected customers will receive a transfer notice from USCIS.

Customers filing Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing Services, to “upgrade” the processing of a pending petition for which premium processing services are currently available should file Form I-907 with the service center where the case is currently pending.

Other than receiving correspondence from a different location, this process is a seamless change for USCIS customers. By advising our customers of the location where their case is currently being processed, the transfer notice is intended to enable customers to communicate more effectively with USCIS regarding any questions or concerns that may arise about their case while it is pending. Customers should direct their inquiries to the service center where the case is currently located.

USCIS reserves the right to transfer additional cases in the future, if necessary, in order to ensure timely case processing.