Service Centers Add Nurse Category to Processing Times
Posted Mar 12, 2004

Each USCIS Service Center publishes a processing time chart used by many of our MurthyDotCom and MurthyBulletin to estimate the processing times for your particular type of immigration filing. The charts are generally updated monthly and are based on the receipt date of the oldest ready-to-adjudicate case. We recently noticed a change in the charts with the addition of a new category for nurses. Previously, there had been an inconsistency among the Service Centers in the processing of petitions for registered nurses. In the past, the California, Nebraska, and Texas Service Centers (CSC, NSC, and TSC respectively) had included petitions by registered nurses within the I-140 skilled worker or professional category (EB3). The Vermont Service Center (VSC), by contrast, had a special category carved out for Schedule A nurses. The processing times for nurse cases were generally much faster than the other cases within the EB3 category. In September 2003, without notice or explanation, the nurse category disappeared from the VSC processing times chart.

Recently, the special category for nurses has reappeared on the VSC processing times chart. There was no announcement or explanation from the USCIS regarding this matter. In addition, the “Schedule A Nurses” category now appears on each of the other Service Center charts, as well. But, unlike the VSC, the processing times for the other Service Centers are not necessarily faster for nurses. In the TSC, nurse petitions are currently being processed about 2 months sooner than the EB3 category (10 months versus 12 months at the time of this writing). Inexplicably, however, the posted processing times for nurses is now slower in both the NSC (11 months for nurses versus 9 months for EB3) and the CSC (11 months for nurses versus 9 ˝ months for EB3).

We continue to monitor the various sources for further information and an explanation from the USCIS regarding the special category for nurses. Hopefully, this is a positive sign for nurses and for health care providers and other employers in urgent need of nurses in the U.S. With any luck, it bodes for faster processing times in the near future.