Service center (SC) process flow for 485 applications seems to be as follows
1. SC mailing room receives the application and is stamped with RD
2. The applications wait in the mail room till they are picked up by a contractor for data entry
3. Contractor enters the data in the system and generates the notice. -- This explains why some of us have notices on Sat or even Sunday. Contractor works 6 days a week and maybe 21 hour shifht. INS officers work only on weekdays
4. The application gets moved into a store room. The application waits in the store room for months sorted by RD. Yes. Sorted by RD. ND does not have any meaning at this time. Dont let the IIOs tell you that the application date is ND. They are not well informed.
5. In the meantime notices are generated for fingerprinting. These notices are generated by independent computer system which takes into consideration the workload at local INS application support centers (ASC). -- This explains why some people in some states get FP done earlier while some others take a longer time. FP dates do not matter as long as FP is done before the case is presented to officer.
6. The applications are moved from the store room to working area in batches. -- This explains why they do processing of 2-3 months at a time.
7. Applications get picked up by officers from the working area. There are multiple officers working on adjucations. -- This explains the sequential-random nature of approvals.
8. Officers may generate an RFE at this time or transfer the case to local office. The reasons for transfer may be -- local office has lighter load, incorrect/incomplete documentation that needs physical verification or directives from head quaters. RFEs may be generated for incomplete/incorrect applications, reverification of data presented or quality purposes
9. If the officer is satisfied, the application is marked approved on the application. The officer does not have the time to print the recipt and put it in an envelope and lick the envelope to seal it because they do not like the taste of the glue.
10. Approved applications are moved to contractors, who enter the data in the system and print the recipt and update the AVM with approved messages. This is when your application is finally approved. -- This explains why mail room plays so important part in approval. Mail room backlog means that although you are approved by the officer, you will not hear about your approval.
11. SC reports numbers to AILA which are based on approvals from officers. They are generally very conservative about the figures because they do not want too many inquiries. They do not take mailroom backlogs into consideration and so with the current mailroom backlog, things got stuck in the out-mailroom backlog and were not getting approved.
Sherlock Holmes is still investigating
1. What happens after RFE and how do those cases reach approvals?
2. What happens after passport stamping?
3. How does local congress person affects INS processing?
4. Why are there some cases lost and take a long long time?
5. What happens to address change requests and why do some address change requests never make it into the system?
Sherlock Holmes is also investigating
1. How many people actively use this website?
2. What is the average time a user spends on this website?
3. How many other such boards are there? -- this is by far the BEST
Sherlock Holmes is currently recruiting Dr. Watson to complete these investigations....
1. SC mailing room receives the application and is stamped with RD
2. The applications wait in the mail room till they are picked up by a contractor for data entry
3. Contractor enters the data in the system and generates the notice. -- This explains why some of us have notices on Sat or even Sunday. Contractor works 6 days a week and maybe 21 hour shifht. INS officers work only on weekdays
4. The application gets moved into a store room. The application waits in the store room for months sorted by RD. Yes. Sorted by RD. ND does not have any meaning at this time. Dont let the IIOs tell you that the application date is ND. They are not well informed.
5. In the meantime notices are generated for fingerprinting. These notices are generated by independent computer system which takes into consideration the workload at local INS application support centers (ASC). -- This explains why some people in some states get FP done earlier while some others take a longer time. FP dates do not matter as long as FP is done before the case is presented to officer.
6. The applications are moved from the store room to working area in batches. -- This explains why they do processing of 2-3 months at a time.
7. Applications get picked up by officers from the working area. There are multiple officers working on adjucations. -- This explains the sequential-random nature of approvals.
8. Officers may generate an RFE at this time or transfer the case to local office. The reasons for transfer may be -- local office has lighter load, incorrect/incomplete documentation that needs physical verification or directives from head quaters. RFEs may be generated for incomplete/incorrect applications, reverification of data presented or quality purposes
9. If the officer is satisfied, the application is marked approved on the application. The officer does not have the time to print the recipt and put it in an envelope and lick the envelope to seal it because they do not like the taste of the glue.
10. Approved applications are moved to contractors, who enter the data in the system and print the recipt and update the AVM with approved messages. This is when your application is finally approved. -- This explains why mail room plays so important part in approval. Mail room backlog means that although you are approved by the officer, you will not hear about your approval.
11. SC reports numbers to AILA which are based on approvals from officers. They are generally very conservative about the figures because they do not want too many inquiries. They do not take mailroom backlogs into consideration and so with the current mailroom backlog, things got stuck in the out-mailroom backlog and were not getting approved.
Sherlock Holmes is still investigating
1. What happens after RFE and how do those cases reach approvals?
2. What happens after passport stamping?
3. How does local congress person affects INS processing?
4. Why are there some cases lost and take a long long time?
5. What happens to address change requests and why do some address change requests never make it into the system?
Sherlock Holmes is also investigating
1. How many people actively use this website?
2. What is the average time a user spends on this website?
3. How many other such boards are there? -- this is by far the BEST
Sherlock Holmes is currently recruiting Dr. Watson to complete these investigations....