There is even an explanation for unfairness
From
www.immigration-law.com
09/25/2004: Concurrent Adjudication and Processing of I-140 and I-485
Ever since the USCIS HQ memorandum was released on the concurrent adjudication of the concurrently filed I-140 and I-485 cases, each Service Center has implemented the policy slightly different. This law firm lately has received some approvals of I-140 petitions and I-485 applications concurrently in one envelope from the Texas Service Center. Now Texas Service Center has disclosed its current adjudication policy as follows:
The I-140 petitions are adjudicated per I-140 processing schedules and processing times.
If I-485 application was filed currently with the I-140 petition, such I-485 application is concurrently adjudicated and approved inasmuch as the security clearance (fingerprint and name checks) has been completed at the time of adjudication.
If I-485 is filed separately but before the pending I-140 petition is adjudicated, such case is taken as a concurrent filing case and handled according to the foregoing policy.
The I-140 petition which is filed alone and not as a concurrent filing is adjudicated per I-140 petition processing times and schedules.
The I-485 application which is filed after the I-140 petition is approved is adjudicated per the I-485 application processing times and schedules in its periodic processing times report.
It appears that the processing times of I-140 petition and I-485 tend to be somewhat inordinate because of a number of factors. First is the launch of policy of concurrent filing and concurrent adjudication policies. Accordingly, depending on the date when I-140 or I-485 was filed, processing and adjudication of such cases are handled differently. Second is change of name check and security clearance timing. In the past, fingerprinting was not scheduled until it passed nine (9) months of filing of I-485 application considering the delay and backlog of I-485 adjudication schedules, but the fingerprinting scheduling policy has changed since the concurrent adjudication policy was released. Nowadays, fingerprinting is scheduled early, particularly in the recent concurrently filed cases in order to achieve the concurrent adjudication policy. As a consequence of such policies, the recent filers of "concurrent I-140/I-485" tend to take the benefits of these policy changes and obtain adjudication earlier than those who filed I-485 applications years back who have to go through the I-485 processing times and the circle of refingeprinting and re-name check processes. A similar phenomena was occasioned before 2000 when the CIA clearance was frozen for almost a year and the Legacy INS adopted a new processing policy in order to deal with the mounting backlogs of I-485 applications, a policy of adjudicating I-485 applications with a target to avoid refingerpring process. Thus old filers suffered and the new filers took advantage of the new policy and obtained adjudication of I-485 applications earlier than old filers. During the period of transition of policies, such unfairness inevitably takes place and it is a fact of life. Once the transition is over, the consumers of immigration filings tend to reach a point where all the filers receive benefits on equal footing. We are in one of such transitional periods and people should bear with the USCIS. Come to think of the emotional difficulties the old I-130/I-485 family-based green card applicants in the Dallas and New York local districts have to go through facing their colleagues who filed recently under the so-called Pilot program and obtains green card approval in 90 days when they have been waiting even for years!
