GHEBAUER,
When I visited the Miami office in mid-late 2004 I asked this exact question. The answer given to me was that Miami does not provide a processing date for employment based I-485 cases. The date that is provided is for family based cases, since employment based cases are not in Miami's jurisdiction. I challenged this answer, and reminded them that although these cases are the jurisdiction of the Service Center, the fact is that they have been transferred to Miami, and are now the responsibility of the Miami local office. The CSR repeated that they are not in Miami's jurisdiction, and they have very few transferred employment based I-485 cases, and they have hundreds of thousands of family based cases. I agreed, that these transferred cases are the exception to the rule, but the fact remains that there are actual transferred employment based I-485 cases in Miami, including mine, and just as all other categories of cases are given updates on their processing times, I should also have this benefit. She nodded her head and looked away. I demanded to speak to her supervisor.
The supervisor told me the exact same thing, except in much more broken English.
I spoke to my lawyer about this, and he was confused with this response, so he scheduled a meeting in person with the director of the Miami office to discuss my case. (AILA lawyers have this power)
He came back with the exact same response, even from the director of the Miami Local office!!
Essentially this means that Miami does not go by any specific date; they just sort of do the cases as they get them. For this reason I believe they look at a combination of the priority date (not the receipt date of the I-485) along with the transfer date. The best way to guage how long your case will be in Miami is to talk to your lawyer and others on this forum who are also waiting in Miami.
You'll eventualy get an interview date, but its just hard to sit around and wonder "when" you'll get the interview notice, especially when you read all these other posts of people getting approved every day at the service centers. I understand your pain, trust me, I've been though it. Sit tight, keep checking with the local office, and evenually you'll get the interview notice in the mail.
My whole story:
http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?t=152852
My transfer depression:
http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?t=147780
Hi , anybody has any info about the cases transfered in MIAMI ??? My case was transfered in Miami on February 2005 and still no response from them !!! The dates of proccesing in Miami are dated 2004 , but i do not understand if they process the cases with the Receipt date from TSC , or they process the cases with Receipt date at the time when the cases were transfered to them !!! Any ideea ??? Somebody is meeting same problems ??? What do you think i should do to find an answer to this ???Thanks in advance !!!