I-485 Update : I-140 Approvals Await I-485 Adjudication Posted Jul 30, 2004 Regular readers of MurthyDotCom and the MurthyBulletin are aware that on April 30, 2004, the USCIS Service Centers changed their procedures for adjudicating concurrently filed I-140/I-485 cases. Essentially, the I-140 and I-485 cases are now supposed to be on the same "track" for adjudication, rather than being handled separately. This change is all part of various USCIS backlog reduction efforts. This procedure and the impact we see upon our cases have been reported in earlier articles, including our May 7, 2004 article, Faster I-485 Approvals Likely, available on MurthyDotCom. We continue to follow the dates of case adjudications within The Law Office of Sheela Murthy and from published information from the USCIS, as well as other matters that appear to be related to this changed procedure. ©MurthyDotCom NSC : I-140s Await I-485 Adjudications ©MurthyDotCom The Nebraska Service Center (NSC) apparently is literally concurrently adjudicating at least some pending I-140/I-485 cases, even if those cases were filed before the changed procedure. We recently made inquiry about two I-140s that were taking a longer time than the stated processing date. In response to our inquiries, the NSC advised that the I-140s would be adjudicated when the concurrent I-485 is ready for adjudication. Since the published processing date for employment-based I-485s at the NSC is as February 2002, whereas the date for I-140s is September 2003, this procedure will likely delay the processing of I-140 petitions considerably. ©MurthyDotCom For the time being, we are continuing to receive approvals of I-140s in concurrently filed cases within the posted timeframes and well in advance of the I-485. It does appear, however, that the new procedures are having an impact on at least some of the cases. As time goes on, this is likely to increase. The significance of this for many applicants is that, if their I-140s are not approved, they may not be able to take advantage of AC21 portability based on the current USCIS policy as enunciated in the August 2003 USCIS Headquarters policy memo. Although the AC21 law itself only requires that the I-485 have been pending for at least 180 days, and does not require that the I-140 petition be approved for the I-485 applicant to enjoy portability, the USCIS position is that the I-140 petition should be approved. This new processing development creates significant legal and policy issues since the USCIS, by its own interpretation and actions, may have nullified the benefit of AC21 portability and violated the intent of Congress. ©MurthyDotCom NSC : I-485 Approvals ©MurthyDotCom Another impact of the changed procedure, as we reported earlier, is that the order in which cases are adjudicated is far less certain. While most cases move through the system reasonably within the posted processing times, we have recently been seeing more aberrations. For example, although NSC reports an I-485 processing date of February 2002, our most recent case approval was for a case filed in the end of September 2002. This case, approved in the middle of July 2004, was seven months ahead of schedule. Even more remarkable was another case approved on July 19, 2004 which had been filed on May 3, 2003. This was over a year ahead of schedule and more than three months faster than our previous fastest case in the NSC. This particular case involved an I-485 filed just shortly before the already-filed I-140 was approved. ©MurthyDotCom CSC : I-485 Approvals ©MurthyDotCom The California Service Center (CSC) is even more unpredictable in the timing of their case adjudications. On June 18, 2004, we received approvals for two I-485 cases filed over a year apart. One case had been filed in early January 2002; the other had been filed in late February 2003. Moreover, just a few days ago, we received an approval for a case filed in late March 2002, three months in advance of the published processing date. As of this writing, in late July 2004, CSC lists a processing date of June 15, 2002. ©MurthyDotCom VSC : I-485 Approvals ©MurthyDotCom The Vermont Service Center (VSC) is essentially in keeping with the rest of the Service Centers with regard to the unpredictability of processing dates. We received three approvals within a day of each other in mid-July 2004 for cases which had been filed over a year apart. The fastest case took approximately 15 months, and had been filed on March 25, 2003. The slowest case took two years and seven months, as it had been filed in November 2001. The third case, approved at the same time, was filed in April 2002 and took two years and three months. This is in keeping with the current reported processing date of April 2002. ©MurthyDotCom TSC : I-485 Approvals ©MurthyDotCom The Texas Service Center (TSC) is also erratic, with cases that are filed a year apart being granted within weeks of each other. The fastest case approvals we received recently were for several unrelated cases filed in April 2003 and approved a year and three months later, in mid-July 2004. However, a few weeks earlier, at the end of June 2004, we received an approval for a case that had been filed in mid-April 2002. This much slower case took two years and two months for approval. We also have cases falling between these times, with a recent case approval in early July for a case filed at the end of January 2003. All of these cases were faster than the stated processing date of January 2002. ©MurthyDotCom Conclusion ©MurthyDotCom Processing times have long been somewhat unpredictable. This causes confusion in the minds of many. Although backlog reduction is a laudable long-term goal, those who have been waiting over 2 years may be upset to find others, who filed only a year ago, to have received approvals ahead of time. There are many other reasons that can cause processing of a case to slow down, including issuance and response to Requests for Evidence and security checks. Therefore, not all of the variance in processing times is attributable to the new concurrent processing of the I-140 and the I-485. However, some of the faster processing times do appear to be connected to this change. We at The Law Office of Sheela Murthy will continue to monitor this recent development and advise MurthyDotCom and MurthyBulletin readers of any future changes as a result of this modification. © The Law Office of Sheela Murthy, P.C.
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