Can I switch my case to a faster service center? Hi, I'm Jim Hacking, immigration lawyer practicing law throughout the United States out of our offices in St. Louis, San Diego, and Washington D.C. You know, a lot of people are getting impatient, and I understand that USCIS has monster backlogs. Cases are taking longer and longer. When you first file your case, it's sent to the lockbox, and there, some civil contractors open up your case, and then they route it. Once it's open, they issue the receipt notice, and then they route it. It eventually ends up at a service center. Some service centers are supposedly faster than others, and some are slower than others, and the people want to know, "Jim, can I move from one service center to another? Can I make that request?" I suppose you can make that request. I suppose USCIS will let you make that request. But they are not going to honor that request. They're not going to grant that request. And they're not going to send your case to the service center of your choosing, and you can probably see why.
If they let everybody switch their cases to the "fastest service center," that service center would no longer be the fastest. They would be backlogged themselves. So, on this issue, as much as USCIS drives me crazy, I think we have to give them some space. Let them assign the case to the service center that they see fit. Now, there may be problems at certain service centers, and some might be busier than others. But there's really nothing you can do about it. So as someone who has applied for a green card or for citizenship, you're just going to bang your head on the wall if you spend every waking moment tracking which service center is the fastest or which one's gotten more caught up, or which one's falling behind. Just don't even waste your time with that. Don't even waste time thinking about it. There's nothing you can do about it.
You just have to wait and know, "I'll be ready when the time comes." That's your mindset. It's "I'm working on my case. I'm working on getting ready to answer the questions at my interview. I'm not getting all worked up about which service center is supposedly faster, which one is slower." None of that stuff matters. All that matters is your case and when your case is getting set for an interview. That's all you need to think about. So, don't spend too much time thinking about service centers. You're not going to be able to move from one to another. Give yourself some peace of mind, and just stop worrying about it until it's been too long. Now, if it's been too long, then we can sue them, and then it doesn't matter which service center you're at because we just sue USCIS and the local field office.
If you have questions about this, or if you feel like your case is at the wrong service center, there's not much we can do about that, but we can help you with your case, (314) 961-8200. You can email us [email protected]. Be sure to join us on our Facebook group, which is called Immigrant Home. We also would love to have you subscribe to our YouTube channel. We post a new video there every single day. We also have our YouTube live show, The Immigration Answers Show, on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We won't have it this Thursday because of EAD. But most Tuesdays and Thursdays from noon central to 1:00, you'll find me answering as many of your immigration law-related questions as possible. Thanks a lot, and have a great day.
