Explanation of Processing Date

[tigerinroc]

Dear gurus or those who experienced with the timeline of the "Processing Date":

I have a question about the Processing Date listed at the USCIS website.

Let's take a look at the Buffalo district office in NY as of May 22, 2006.

Now Processing Cases with Receipt Notice Date of: December 1, 2005 for form N-400 Naturalization

My questions are:

- Will they send out inviation for finger prints when they start processing the case or the finger prints was already done before (which means finger prints happened independently from the Processing Date") ?
- If the question answer is NO for the question above, how long does it take from the Processing Date to the date you actually receive the letter for interview?
- If the question answer is YES for the question above, how long does it take from the Processing Date to the date you actually receive the letter for finger prints?

Thank you.

 

[sam_c]

Dear gurus or those who experienced with the timeline of the "Processing Date":

I have a question about the Processing Date listed at the USCIS website.

Let's take a look at the Buffalo district office in NY as of May 22, 2006.

Now Processing Cases with Receipt Notice Date of: December 1, 2005 for form N-400 Naturalization

My questions are:

- Will they send out inviation for finger prints when they start processing the case or the finger prints was already done before (which means finger prints happened independently from the Processing Date") ?
- If the question answer is NO for the question above, how long does it take from the Processing Date to the date you actually receive the letter for interview?
- If the question answer is YES for the question above, how long does it take from the Processing Date to the date you actually receive the letter for finger prints?

Thank you.

I don't think the processing dates shown online are reflective of how long they are actually taking. I believe (and its my personal opinion only) that the date shown is of the oldest case on hand. For example, the Newark, NJ office shows a processing date of 09/25/2005 for N-400 but people who applied in 01/2006 are currently having their interviews these days. The best way to estimate your processing time is to watch the timeline thread for your DO.

As for fingerprinting - you should receive a notice within 3-6 weeks after getting your N400 receipt notice. It does not appear to have any relationship to the processing date.

Sam

 

[tigerinroc]

Thank you very much for your clarification. The information is very clear and useful.

 

[query11]

My understanding of processing dates:

A processing date is synonymous to adjudicating date.Say there are 1000 people who applied for n400 on december 2005.Now if a single guy or a bunch of guys from that month[dec/05] has been approved(when i am saying approved not just n652,i am talking of oath letter is mailed) then the uscis says we are processing applications as of that month(december05).

I don't think the processing dates shown online are reflective of how long they are actually taking. I believe (and its my personal opinion only) that the date shown is of the oldest case on hand. For example, the Newark, NJ office shows a processing date of 09/25/2005 for N-400 but people who applied in 01/2006 are currently having their interviews these days. The best way to estimate your processing time is to watch the timeline thread for your DO.

As for fingerprinting - you should receive a notice within 3-6 weeks after getting your N400 receipt notice. It does not appear to have any relationship to the processing date.

Sam