Citizenship and Adjustment of Status Interviews May Be Conducted at Different Locations to Improve Processing Times

USCIS announced at the end of June that it will implement a national strategy to decrease differences in processing times based on location for Form N-400, Application for Naturalization, and Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status.

Since the end of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2017, filings were up 15.6% from FY 2016, and FY 2016 filings were up 25.5% from FY 2015. Because the increased filing volumes did not affect the USCIS field offices equally, the processing times among field offices differed vastly. As a result, caseloads will now be shifted between field offices to decrease processing times.

This means an applicant may be scheduled for an interview at a field office outside of their normal jurisdiction, geographic location. Applicants may also receive other types of notices (such as a Request for Evidence) from a field office outside of their normal jurisdiction. Luckily, these caseload changes will not affect where applicants attend their biometrics appointments. In the event the applicant is not able to travel to the field office, they may reschedule the appointment, but this will likely result in further delays in processing the naturalization or adjustment of status petition.