Priority Date
Immi-guy,
It's kinda confusing reading through everyone's responses regarding priority date vs. processing date. My understanding is that they are the same thing, except one applies to you, the other one applies to the processing agency. Any kind of application has a receipt date, which becomes the priority date, if there is a backlog or a delay. But now-a-days, when the term "priority date" is used, I think it normally refers to the receipt date of your LC application (if you are EB3/EB2), because the Retrogression is causing such a big ruckus.
Is 7/31/06 your LC priority date or your I-140 priority date? If your LC priority date is 7/31/06...then indeed you have a long wait before you can file the I-485 judging from the current Visa Bulletin, which has been stuck on Aug 2002 for 3 months now (EB3).
My LC priority date is 9/25/02, but my I-140 has a 12/15/06 priority date.
The TSC I-140 tracking site shows "processing date" of June 2006, although I heard it's not accurate at all, it just means officially, they are telling the public that they are processing I-140s with receipt (priority) date of June 2006 and/or before, and don't bug them about it unless your I-140 recept/priority date becomes current according to that site. If someone who has a receipt date after June 2006, and somehow got his case processed, it's just an anomoly, and people such as myself cannot use that againt the Service Center. Eventhough I'd like to have my I-140 approved, in the whole scheme of things, it doesn't really matter, because I am still looking at about 1 year+ before I can file the I-485 anyway (assuming my I-140 can be approved within 1 year). I am, however, upset with ETA's Backlog Reduction Center, who has lost my LC, and I was forced to file the I-140 without the LC after two months of empty promises and waiting. I can only hope it's not going to cause any problems at the TCS.
